EPA Must Clean Up Cement Kilns Now!

Dear [Decision maker],

I urge the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the agency charged with regulating mercury and other toxic air pollutants from major industrial sources including the cement industry, to adopt the strongest limits on mercury pollution for all existing cement kilns in the United States.

Please consider the following:

- Mercury pollution is a dangerous neurotoxin that causes serious health effects, including impairing the ability of children to read, write, walk, talk and learn;

- Mercury pollution has contaminated hundreds of lakes, streams, rivers, creeks and ponds, and poisoned certain fish populations to the point where they are no longer safe to eat;

- The cement industry is a major industrial polluter of mercury and other toxic air pollutants;

- Cement kilns have severely underestimated the amount of mercury pollution they are emitting into the environment;

- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the responsibility and duty under the Clean Air Act to regulate mercury and other toxic air pollution from major industrial polluters; and

- For nearly a decade, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ignored the law, the courts, and the will of the people requiring it to clean up mercury pollution from the cement industry.

[Your comments here]

I also urge the EPA to immediately require cement kilns to test their actual mercury emissions and make this information readily available to the public. The cement industry has received a free pass to pollute mercury for far too long; it is time the EPA does its job and puts an end to this dangerous threat to our health and the environment.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.