Palmer photo courtesy of Gary Palmer. Lime plant photo courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Left: U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Hoover.
Congressman Gary Palmer recently took decisive action to protect hundreds of jobs in Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District.
The Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a draconian air regulation for the lime manufacturing industry.
Lime is a chemical made from limestone. It is used across America, and much of it is produced right here in Alabama. Steel mills use it for making steel. Power plants use it for cleaning their own air emissions. Water treatment plants use lime for cleaning drinking water. Mining companies use it to clean up streams that were polluted by acid mine drainage. Lime is also used in road construction, and for improving soil quality.
Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District is home to more lime plants (six) than any other Congressional district in the United States. The problem with EPA’s rule is that their own scientists said that new lime rules are completely unnecessary to protect public health or the environment.
They said (in their own words): “…risks from the [lime manufacturing industry] are acceptable, the standards provide an ample margin of safety to protect public health, and more stringent standards are not necessary to prevent an adverse environmental effect. The EPA received no new data or other information during the public comment period that causes us to change that proposed determination…” -- 85 Fed. Reg. 44, 963 (July 24, 2020).
On July 24, 2024, Congressman Gary Palmer stood up for the hundreds of lime manufacturing workers of Alabama and added an amendment to the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill (H.R. 8998) that would stop EPA from using federal funds to move forward with its lime regulation.
EPA’s own economic analysis predicts that this unnecessary rule will cost over $2 billion (about $6 per person in the U.S.). Not only is there a high cost in dollars, but the equipment needed to comply with the rule would cause an increase in greenhouse gas emissions of tens of thousands of tons each year. This rule is a “lose-lose” for both the economy and the environment.
The lime industry salutes Congressman Palmer for standing up to EPA and restoring some common sense to environmental protection. Alabama is blessed to have a leader like Gary Palmer representing its citizens in Congress.
William Herz
Executive director, National Lime Association
