CEMENT PLANT TO STOP USING TOXICS AS FUEL : CITIZENS GROUP WELCOMES NEWS AFTER 10-YEAR FIGHT.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer National Cement Co. plans to drop its controversial use of hazardous waste Hazardous waste Any solid, liquid, or gaseous waste materials that, if improperly managed or disposed of, may pose substantial hazards to human health and the environment. Every industrial country in the world has had problems with managing hazardous wastes. as a fuel supplement, the company president said Wednesday. Hazardous waste has been used as a fuel supplement since 1982 at the cement plant on the western fringe of the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley . This will cease Nov. 11, when a contract with the fuel supplier will expire, said company President Don Unmacht. Unmacht said the company plans $40 million worth of improvements for the plant and does not want the additional problems of getting government approval that are involved in hazardous-waste regulations. ``The uncertainty of getting a permit is something a big business can't live with when you're making a major capital improvement,'' Unmacht said. The federal Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and was requiring the company to perform emissions tests while burning the hazardous waste. The EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. , the California Department of Toxic Substances Control The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (or DTSC) is an agency of the government of the state of California. The agency monitors exposure to hazardous, radioactive, and toxic wastes in addition to enforcement of compliance by individual businesses, and the Kern County Air Pollution Control District have been notified of the plant's decision, Unmacht said. The decision was purely an economic one, said Unmacht, insisting that technology is viable and safe for burning hazardous waste in the cement kiln. The decision was welcomed by environmentalists who have been fighting National Cement for nearly a decade over the issue. ``Undoubtedly they see the handwriting on the wall handwriting on the wall Daniel interprets supernatural sign as Belshazzar’s doom. [O.T.: Daniel 5:25–28] See : Omen ,'' said Stormy Williams, a founder of Desert Citizens Against Pollution, a group that has fought the company. ``They knew we weren't going to let them alone. I'm very happy.'' Residents of the western Antelope Valley began complaining in the late 1980s that they were experiencing medical problems, including burning sensations in the throat and eyes. Opponents of the burning operation suspect it caused the problems, but no link ever was established between the complaints and the cement plant. The plant drew protests from the international group Greenpeace, as well as Desert Citizens Against Pollution. Supporters of the operation, including state environmental officials, believe it is a practical way to dispose of To determine the fate of; to exercise the power of control over; to fix the condition, application, employment, etc. of; to direct or assign for a use. See also: Dispose hazardous waste and is not harmful. Hazardous waste has been burned as a fuel supplement for the plant's kiln since 1982, first under the ownership of the Portland Cement Co. and then, starting in 1987, under the ownership of National Cement. |
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