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No. 5 July 1996 News for All Interested in Featuring News, Analysis, Resources and Contacts |
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MillWatch table of contents
MillWatch No. 5 - July 1996
Montana Chlorine Disaster
Worker Lung Health
PM10 and Children with Asthma
New Paper Lists
Chlorine-Free Recycling on the Columbia River!
Greenpeace Challenges Fletcher Challenge New Zealand to go Totally Chlorine-Free
Pulp Prices Plunge
First Totally Chlorine-Free Magazine in Japan
Powell River Sludge
Dow Dioxin Test
Yellow Cedar Chips
WWW Hormone Disrupters
Little Zeros Watch
Thanks this issue to Laurie Valeriano of Washington Toxics Coalition, Susan McLean of Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, Tony Tweedale of Montana CHEER, Columbia River United, Jay Ritchlin of the Natural Resources Council of Maine and Catherine Delahunty from Greenpeace New Zealand.
In April one of the largest chlorine accidents ever occurred near the remote town of Alberton, Montana, just 10 miles from Stone Container's Frenchtown pulp mill, which uses one 90 ton tanker of chlorine every week. The chlorine came from, and was headed to, Georgia Pacific paper mills. A tanker of spent potassium cresylate (the K salt of cresol, a phenolic desulfurizer, degreaser, and dioxin precursor) crashed into one of a pack of four chlorine tankers, causing the release of 59 tons of chlorine gas (Cl2). Clouds of chlorine gas were clearly visible in press photographs. The clouds engulfed, hurt and disoriented motorists on the I-90.
One transient died of chlorine gas inhalation, several interstate motorists were left in intensive care, and over 350 people were treated for chlorine exposure. Nearly 1,000 people were evacuated at five in the morning, and kept from their homes for 2-to-3 weeks. The town, the Clark Fork River and the airspace were closed. Animals were abandoned but survived, although long-term impacts are unknown. Initial responders had no respirators or functioning chlorine sniffers. Area pulmonologists stated that many victims came very close to death from chlorine inhalation.
Nearly all the cresol, some 15,000 gallons, was released. Exothermic mixing with chlorine formed high concentrations of chlorophenols, other toxic chemicals, and an unknown amount of dioxins. (Apparently authorities are not ordering dioxin tests.) A third tanker released a small amount of sodium chlorate (NaClO3), a solid form of chlorine typically used to transport reactive chlorine dioxide.
Evacuated residents were told by Montana Rail Link doctors that, except for those with pre-existing pulmonary problems, they could expect a rapid and complete recovery from their chlorine exposure. However Alberton residents who returned home are still reporting symptoms such as headaches, joint aches, burning sensations, difficulty breathing and spitting or coughing up blood, in June two months after the accident. Several have again left their homes.
Evacuees organized and formed ACE, Alberton Community Evacuees, to help the people impacted by this catastrophe. Montana environmental organizations are helping.
* Tony Tweedale and Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers, Missoula, Montana (email: cmcr@ism.net) and newspaper clippings.
Two studies worked on by Dr. Susan Kennedy at Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia examine the long-term lung health consequences to pulp mill workers of accidental gassings with chlorine or chlorine dioxide. Kennedy found impaired function, "increased respiratory symptoms and airflow obstruction," especially among gassed workers who were non-smokers.
* "Lung Health Consequences of Reported Accidental Chlorine Gas Exposures Among Pulpmill Workers," American Review of Respiratory Diseases, 143:74-79 (1991)
* "First Aid Reports of Acute Chlorine Gassing Among Pulpmill Workers as Predictors of Lung Health Consequences," American Journal of Industrial Medicine,
20:71-81 (1991)
Increases in small inhalable particle concentrations have been associated with acute reductions in level of lung function and increased symptom reporting among children. This study looked at symptoms in subgroups among 2200 children in a pulp mill town (Port Alberni, British Columbia) and found that "increases in PM10 from 1 to 4 days earlier were associated with reductions in Peak Expiratory Flow Rate" and other symptoms, especially for children with diagnosed asthma.
* Sverre Vedal et al, "Adverse Respiratory Health Effects of Ambient Inhalable Particle Exposure," American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, April 1995
Campaigns to wean the North American pulp and paper industry off chlorine compounds received a boost this spring with at least three new paper lists from organizations on the east and west coasts of North America.
The Reach for Unbleached! campaign from Washington Citizens for Resource Recycling in Seattle has a new list, featuring Copier, Printing Janitorial and Tree-Free papers.
Reach for Unbleached! Canada in British Columbia has revamped the Paper Guide to Office and Copy papers.
The Maine Natural Resource Defence Council has launched a new coalition for a Dioxin-Free Maine, with Native Americans, paperworkers, fishers, and women's groups meeting monthly. A smart new brochure explains why chlorine-free paper is the best buy for the environment. Their campaign is also accompanied by a buyers guide to chlorine free paper and tissues, both Totally Chlorine Free virgin papers and Process (or secondarily) Chlorine Free recycled papers. NRC is working with Marcel, a New Jersey manufacturer of tissues, towels and napkins made from recycled fibres with no use of chlorine compounds. Maine papermakers have committed to ending dioxin discharges, but it is currently unclear just how they plan to achieve this goal.
If you have an up-to-date paper list for your part of the continent, MillWatch readers want to know!
* Natural Resources Council of Maine, 271 State St., Augusta Maine 04330; (207)622-3101
* Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, 157 Yesler #309, Seattle WA 98104; (206)343-5171; fax (206)624-2110, email: wcfrc@aol.com
Ponderosa Fibres of America has chosen to build their new de-inking facility at the Boise Cascade Wallula mill on the Columbia River using chlorine-free technology. The Boise Cascade permit had specified the use of chlorine dioxide, but the Ponderosa partners in the project decided to use hydrogen peroxide and hydrosulphite. The project manager for Ponderosa Fibres said that the bleaching process would cost 25% more, " but it makes a better product for us and is environmentally-friendly."
* Columbia River United Newsletter, Spring 1996, PO Box 1254, Hood River, OR 97031, ph: 541-387-3030
Greenpeace Challenges Fletcher Challenge New Zealand to go Totally Chlorine-Free
Greenpeace is using the Rainbow Warrior to campaign for an end to chlorine and chlorine dioxide bleaching at the Tasman Pulp and Paper mill in Kawerau New Zealand, with a series of blockades, media events, and public education. The mill, targeted by Greenpeace for conversion to Totally Chlorine Free processes, is owned by Fletcher Challenge, and wants to shift to chlorine dioxide bleaching. It has been the focus of the valiant grassroots group, MillWatch [note: not this organization], for a decade.
The Tasman mill aroused the ire of the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment when it claimed that an erupting volcano was putting out more dioxin and other organochlorines than the mill had in its 40 years of operation. The Ministry, flooded by calls from worried citizens, issued a denial, reiterating that dioxin was primarily produced from industrial sources.
Greenpeace Campaign Director Stephanie Mills said Totally Chlorine Free bleaching was a viable and proven alternative, adopted by 60 mills worldwide. "For forty years, the Tarawera River has run black, contaminated with some of the most harmful chemicals known to science," she said. "The Tasman mill proposes to continue discharging at least a tonne of organochlorine chemicals every day for the foreseeable future. That is simply unacceptable. The Tasman mill must take the poison out of paper." Greenpeace is calling for the mill to commit to go Totally Chlorine Free by the year 2000, and to move to zero discharges to the Tarawera River by 2005 at the latest.
* Greenpeace Press Releases, June 1996
Market pulp that was commanding prices of $985 (US) a tonne last December, is now selling for $500 or less. Publishers and printers built up paper inventory and reduced demand when prices skyrocketed in 1995. Now British Columbia mills are rotating shutdowns to reduce inventory, but Charles Widman, publisher of an international newsletter on the forestry industry, predicts that pulp prices may have "further to fall." Widman says that, "It will take six months to correct the [global pulp inventory] situation. Every pulp mill in Canada will have to take some downtime."
* Globe and Mail, April 1996
ASCII magazine in Japan published on TCF paper in April, making it the first Japanese commercial magazine to take this step towards environmental protection. ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free) pulp which is bleached with reduced quantities of chlorine, is currently being produced in Japan, but not TCF pulp. Therefore ASCII chose Myllykoski of Finland to be its supplier of TCF paper. Japan has no dioxin release standards for the pulp and paper industry.
* ASCII Press Release, March 1996
MacMillan Bloedel's Powell River, BC, mill appears to have "stayed" its application for a permit to spread secondary treatment plant sludge on its poplar plantations. The mill says it will wait until dioxin levels in the sludge go down after a new power boiler and dry particulate collector are installed as part of a $145 million upgrade announced last February.
The new boiler is expected to substantially improve air quality in town, while a new chlorine dioxide generator will allow the mill to become 100% ClO2 bleaching. Powell River was the site of a massive chlorine dioxide spill in 1994, when a pulp storage tank corroded and gave way, rupturing adjacent chlorine dioxide tanks.
Dow Environmental (Pittsburgh), a division of Dow Chemical Co. has obtained the nonexclusive license for a quick and simple test for dioxins based on immune system analysis technology.
* Waste Age, May 1996
Dear MillWatch,
Last winter I walked the driftwood-strewn beaches of southern Cortes and Marina Islands. It's always interesting to see what washes up in the storms. One thing I found in abundance was piles of pulp chips. They get blown off the uncovered barges crossing Georgia Strait. The quantity was a little more than the seasonal average, but the smell was familiar to any carpenter and lover of fine wood - sacred Yellow Cedar!
At first, one might just think this a strange choice of tree species for pulp. It is a wood saturated in aromatic and fairly toxic oils that make it last for centuries, something the species has developed for survival in the wet and often snow-shrouded sub-alpine of the Pacific Coast. These oils would have to be completely removed during pulp processing
On closer scrutiny, an even greater folly became apparent. I picked up a random handful of these "little shingles", and sat down with my hand lens to count the annual rings on them. Over the width of these chips, not quite an inch, I averaged sixty four years. These chips were from ancient and extremely slow-growing yellow cedars, and are being methodically turned into paper bags and newsprint stock that probably won't last a single year.
We hear lots of loud political/industrial rhetoric these days about "Forest Renewal", and a "sustainable" forest industry. I suggest these little yellow chips floating around in the surf of 1996 tell the real story of a final liquidation sale that continues largely unabated in the remaining unprotected ancient forests of this coast.
* David Shipway, Mansons Landing, BC
Greenpeace UK has a hormone disrupters page on the World Wide Web. It is located at www.greenpeace.org/~uk/science
The World Wildlife Fund of Canada also has a new hormone disrupter home page on the web at www.wwfcanada.org/hormone-disruptors
Great Lakes United announces the commencement of a new free publication, the Little Zeros Watch. The Little Zeros Watch was established to promote citizen campaigns to achieve zero discharge of persistent toxic substances in the Great Lakes ecosystem, with a particular focus on wet cleaning, pesticide campaigns and PVC plastic. Copies will be delivered electronically and via fax and are free to subscribers.
GLU would like to hear about, and publicize, your campaigns, conferences, and reports.
* Scott Sederstrom, ph: (313)998-0760; fax: (313)998-0821; email: sederstrom@igc.apc.org