The U.S. EPA has for years been dragging their feet when it comes to regulating the cement industry for their pollution. Over 100 cement kilns across the country emit about 11,000 pounds of mercury every year, according to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory. However, these numbers are all voluntarily reported, sometimes drastically underestimating the actual mercury emissions.

For example, a cement kiln in Alpena, MI, reported in 2003 emissions of only 66 pounds of mercury; in 2005, after the state required the cement kiln test its actual emissions, the mercury output skyrocketed to approximately 520 pounds a year. The nation's largest mercury emitters are often cement kilns, which can pump thousands of pounds of mercury pollution into the air.

The EPA refusal to act has led to calls upon state governments to limit mercury pollution from individual kilns by requiring limits on mercury in state-issued permits. The latest action on this comes from New York, where Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, New York Public Interest Group and Friends of Hudson sent letters to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Governor Eliot Spitzer, calling upon them in include mercury limits for the Lafarge cement kiln in Ravena, NY.

The Albany Times-Union ran a story about this move, and local radio and television outlets covered it as well. If the federal EPA is not going to make the moves to follow the law and limit this mercury pollution, hopefully the states will.