Uroboros Glass say it agrees it should abide by new regulations on emissions from glass furnaces.
But as the North Portland glass factory wrestles with a new reality sprung on it earlier this month—that for seven years it was actually required to filter its glass production, even though state officials didn't realize it—Uroboros owner Eric Lovell is doing his share of grumbling. He's also indicated he might not have to follow those federal emissions rules for months.
In an e-mail sent to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on April 14, obtained via a public records request, Lovell responded to the agency's notice that a fresh Environmental Protection Agency opinion clarified the company was subject to more stringent rules. Lovell's reaction laid out an argument that forcing his company (and crosstown rival Bullseye Glass) to follow the years-old Environmental Protection Agency rules might be "revisionist history by current holders of the regulator's offices."
And Lovell says that, "lacking any guidance" from DEQ, he's going to invoke the right to take up to 120 days to install industrial filters on furnaces that burn more than 50 tons of hazardous air pollutants like chromium and cadmium per year. (Uroboros has voluntarily suspended use of those two substances in the face of outcry over air pollution in the city.) That's in line with the law that DEQ now says Uroboros' activities fall under, Lovell thinks. He's asked the DEQ for guidance on that point.
Lovell's letter comes as his industry—which has operated for decades with minimum restrictions on its emissions—suddenly finds itself inundated with new rules. Not only is the DEQ arguing Bullseye and Uroboros must strictly filter their air under an old law, but the state's Environmental Quality Commission just approved rules that will force filtering by September.
Given the time it will take to get those filters, known as "baghouses", installed, it's unclear what happens in the intervening months—particularly since Uroboros and Bullseye are arguing their businesses are imperiled while use of heavy metals is on hold.
Records submitted to the DEQ by Bullseye show the company's been burning melting between 2.7 and 4.3 pounds of cadmium most days since it installed a baghouse on one of its furnaces earlier this month.
Here's Lovell's full April 14 email to the DEQ. More detailed data about how many hazardous pollutants Bullseye and Uroboros burn in each of their furnaces is due to officials by May 2.
MORE COVERAGE:
•State Finds Alarmingly High Arsenic, Cadmium Levels Near Two SE Portland Schools
•Too Cozy? A DEQ Air Quality Official Apparently Vacationed With An Attorney Representing Industry
•Oregon DEQ Director Dick Pedersen Resigns Amid Air Pollution Concerns
•Bullseye Glass Has Suspended Use of Arsenic and Cadmium Because of Air Quality Concerns
•Essential Pollution Controls Lacking at Two Glass Plants Blamed For Cadmium Emissions
