Dallas EPA Office Agrees With Downwinders: TXI’s Request to Burn Car “Fluff” Is Toxic Stuff

A couple weeks back we ran that Downwinders at Risk ad taking the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Governor Rick Perry to task for “conspiring” to keep out of sight TXI’s request to burn plastic trash and so-called “auto fluff” (such as “all the non-steel parts of a junked car, including the dashboard containing heavy metals, seats, brakes with asbestos, and PCB-laced electronics”) in its Midlothian cement kiln. Because that crap’s toxic, loaded with Dioxin.

Turns out, the Environmental Protection Agency agrees: The Dallas-based Downwinders send word this morning that last week, Environmental Protection Agency officials told the TCEQ to hold up, because what TXI says isn’t hazardous most certainly is. Jeff Robinson, chief of the Air Permits Section in the Region 6 Dallas office, wrote to the TCEQ: “We have questions regarding TXI’s statement that no changes in the character of emissions will result from the proposed project. With the proposed introduction of several alternative fuels and raw materials, we do not believe that the information contained in the application supports this conclusion.” Long story short: Burning fluff is a violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act.

The Downwinders are heartened by the EPA’s concerns. In an e-mail sent this morning, the group insists: “It’s now unlikely that a showdown with EPA can be avoided, only postponed.”