Martinsburg cement plant cited for dust pollution
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Inspectors with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection last week found Essroc's cement plant near Martinsburg was emitting excessive amounts of a dust-like particulate matter, which has been blamed for coating nearby residents' vehicles and raised health concerns.
In a violation notice issued Monday, West Virginia Division of Air Quality Director William F. Durham said that officials with the agency conducted visible emission observations on Oct. 27 in response to several complaints filed by nearby residents concerning "excessive opacity and particulate matter fallout."
The inspectors found that the average amount of dust obscured by pollution in the air during six-minute blocks of time exceeded the plant's permitted 10 percent emission limit, with the highest average reaching 40.4 percent, the notice said.
"Highest individual opacity readings of 55 percent (also) were observed and documented," Durham said.
The emission observations were noted at the Portland cement plant's clinker storage silos and conveyor belt coming from the clinker cooler, the notice said.
Nodules of clinker typically are ground to a fine powder and used as a binding agent in cement products.
The notice said the company might be subject to civil and/or criminal penalties, including a civil penalty up to $10,000 per day for each violation.
Essroc is required to file a response that includes an explanation of the cause of the conditions, how long the conditions existed, and what has been done or is being done to address the violations.
Essroc spokesman C.D. Linton on Monday reiterated the steps that plant Manager Heinz Knopfel said were taken last month to keep dust from leaving the plant, including an Oct. 21 decision to halt a special operation to haul clinker to the company's sister plant in Nazareth, Pa.
The company also said it increased road sweeping and watering as part of efforts to contain dust.
Essroc Environmental Manager Bradley Blase cited the increased number of trucks hauling clinker to Pennsylvania, noting they had caused the extra dust to be "kicked up from the loading of the trucks and transportation on the roads."
Until the deliveries were halted, the number of trucks leaving the plant, which operates 24 hours a day, had nearly doubled to 50 per day as a result of the operation.
According to Essroc's material safety data sheet about Portland cement clinker, the product might contain free crystalline silica and "prolonged exposure to airborne free crystalline silica may cause delayed lung injury including silicosis, a disabling and potentially fatal lung disease, and/or other diseases."
"Inhalation may also aggravate other lung conditions and exposure to cement clinker may cause irritation to the moist mucous membranes of the nose, throat, and upper respiratory system. It may also leave unpleasant deposits in the nose," the document said.
The National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health's respiratory division said that "even if clouds of cement dust aren’t made up of fine particles that contain much crystalline silica, they can still have other health effects," including allergies and other irritations.
Besides concerns about breathing in the dust, residents have complained the particulate matter that has repeatedly coated their vehicles is difficult to remove.
"I don't go to the car wash because it doesn't pay," Thompson Street resident Melissa Kneisly said last month.
