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No. 6 October 1996 News for All Interested in Featuring News, Analysis, Resources and Contacts |
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MillWatch table of contents
MillWatch No. 6 - October 1996
Total Chlorine-Free Around The World
Elemental Chlorine-Free Pulp Takes Over
Greenpeace Protests Baikal Paper Mill
Greenpeace Visits FC's Tasman Pulp Again
Canfor Charged For Gas
First Stop, Powell River
Mercury In Sulphuric Acid
Ontario Revokes Zero Aox
Eddys Installs Ozone
Way Up North
Yellow Cedar Not Cut For Pulp Chips
Cluster Rules
Cross-Border Effluent
Thanks this issue to Laurie Valeriano of Washington Toxics Coalition, Susan McLean of Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, Miranda Holmes of Georgia Strait Alliance, Morag Simpson of Greenpeace Canada, and Eric Hummel of the Right-To-Know Project in Ketchikan Alaska.
In addition to the three Swedish Sodra Cell mills which are aiming for both TCF and closed loop technology by 1999, other mills around the world are moving in the same direction.
A large Czech mill, Sepap Steti (which is partially owned by a Swedish company) plans to upgrade including both Elemental Chlorine-Free (ECF) and TCF technology.
In Brazil, Bacell, (formerly Cellulose da Bahia) began TCF bleaching in February and is ready for commercial production. This facility received some funding from the International Finance Corp (part of the World Bank). Industrias Klabin de Papel e Celulose pulp mill at Monte Alegre announced an expansion that will include oxygen delignification and TCF bleaching and replace the current ECF line for hard and softwood pulp by mid-1997.
In Pakistan, Faruki Pulp Mills, Ltd will increase its TCF market pulp mill this year.
* Information from Greenpeace International
Elemental Chlorine-Free (ECF), pulp bleached with chlorine dioxide, is poised to capture one-half of the world's bleached chemical pulp (BCP) market, reports an annual study conducted by the Alliance for Environmental Technology (AET).
With industry experts proclaiming the environmental debate between Totally Chlorine-Free (TCF) and ECF bleaching over, the market is returning to values such as product quality.
According to the report, "Trends in World Bleached Chemical Pulp Production: 1990-1996," ECF production is expected to reach 34 million tonnes by the end of this year, for a share of more than 45 percent of the world BCP market. In the US, ECF production is expected to exceed 10 million tonnes in 1996, almost 40 percent of the US market.
AET's Doug Pryke says, "Now that the environmental debate is over, we can refocus our attention on the development of the 'closed-loop' mill - an ECF mill that recycles its bleaching waste water."
AET is an international association of chemical manufacturers and forest products companies dedicated to improving the environmental performance of the pulp and paper industry. AET was created to establish a clearinghouse of educational and technical information relating to chlorine dioxide and its use in chemical pulp bleaching.
A copy of the report is available upon request from Patrick Hurston, 800/999-PULP www.aet.org
* AET Press Release, April 1996
In August, Greenpeace protested the Baikal Paper Mill on the coast of 25 million year old Lake Baikal. Environmental activists broke into the factory and scaled the 80 meter smoke stacks to hang a banner that read, "Save Baikal." No arrests followed the protest, and, according to Greenpeace activist Alexander Knorre, the factory director listened to the activists' demands to stop producing cellulose, a wood byproduct which is chemically treated. Dozens of expensive conversion projects, such as turning the mill into a furniture factory or a water bottling plant, have been discussed for years. Baikal is expected to be included in UNESCO's list of World Heritage Natural Sites. Baikal is not only unique for its purity, but for its age, size, depth, and wildlife. Holding 20 percent of the world's fresh water, it has 850 unique animal species.
* Moscow Times, August 1996
Also in August, Greenpeace New Zealand, with the help of the Rainbow Warrior, held an extravaganza week of events targeting Tasman Pulp and Paper's chlorine bleaching process, including a petition calling for the mill to go Totally Chlorine Free, and hanging a 20 metre "Chlorine Kills" banner on the pulp digester at the mill. The campaigners reported lots of support from the public, workers and the surrounding three tribes of Maori people, as well as excellent media coverage.
The Tasman mill has been under protest from the local organization Mill Watch, (not this MillWatch) for over a decade.
Canfor in Prince George BC has been charged with release of a noxious gas last summer. Apparently hundreds of people complained to police and fire departments about the odour released when turpentine was drained from a tank into a lagoon. Fines can by law total over $1 million.
* Vancouver Sun, August 1996
In September, Reach for Unbleached, Georgia Strait Alliance, and Greenpeace launched a campaign to increase public awareness of the human health problems related to industrial toxic pollution. The first stop was Powell River, where the groups co-hosted "Gender Benders and Beyond: What Are Toxic Chemicals Doing to Our Health?" a community health forum.
The forum highlighted emerging science linking organochlorines and other synthetic chemicals to increased incidences of breast cancer, testicular cancer and childhood leukaemia, reduced sperm counts, increases in asthma and other immune system diseases, and learning problems such as attention deficit disorder.
Following the screening of the World Wildlife Fund video "Hormone Copycats", Dr Joe Rea, a member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and board member of Georgia Strait Alliance, spoke about the frontline victims of toxic contamination: unborn and newly born children.
It was clear during the question and answer period that many members of the community are extremely frustrated by what they see as the disregard for human and environmental health shown by government and transnational corporations. Certainly the citizens of Powell River have cause for concern - higher than average rates of breast cancer, brain cancer, childhood leukaemia and asthma.
A very positive outcome of the forum was a decision to form a local network to work on health and environment issues.
Rogers Community Cable taped the forum and will work with Georgia Strait Alliance and Reach for Unbleached! to produce a half hour documentary which will be circulated to cable stations throughout the province.
For more information call Georgia Strait Alliance Vancouver at 604-251-4953.
* Miranda Holmes
Potlatch Corporation operates an integrated pulp and paper mill in Cloquet Minnesota, producing coated papers. When the mill converted to 100% chlorine dioxide bleaching (ClO2) sequence, a new feed stock chemical was needed in the bleach plant. Subsequently the mills' effluent showed occasional spikes of mercury.
An environmental assessment in 1994 eventually traced the mercury to the bleach plant and to sulphuric acid. Sulphuric acid addition prior to the first bleaching stage was used to facilitate the move to ClO2 bleaching. Finally the mill traced the single sulphuric acid manufacturing plant which was producing the contaminated product.
Sulphuric acid is often produced from sulphur dioxide captured in the scrubbers for petroleum and mining industry air emissions. In this case a secondary lead smelter was responsible for the high mercury levels. Potlatch has taken steps to ensure that it's suppliers do not supply unwanted by-products in the future.
* Potlatch Corp.
The Ontario government has proposed the removal of a progressive water pollution law which would have required mills to stop dumping any chlorine compounds by 2002. Industry will no longer have to report to government on its planning towards "zero discharge. The provincial government in Ontario has moved quickly to implement a right-wing agenda, slashing social programmes, opening up the north to resource extraction, and ignoring environmental concerns of long-standing in the province.
* DB and Toronto Star, July 1996
The E.B. Eddy mill at Espanola, Ontario will undergo a $ 77 million upgrade, including installation of an ozone bleaching system to replace part of the chlorine system. Espanola produces about 1,000 tonnes of hardwood and softwood pulps a day, with one-third sold on the open market, and the rest used by other Eddy paper mills. A spokesman said the modernization is part of Eddy's plan to produce more "niche" paper products and pulps.
* Financial Post, August 1996
In August Ketchikan Pulp Company`s (KPC) Ward Cove mill had 3 accidental releases of sulphur dioxide (SO2) sending 2 mill workers and 3 nearby residents to the hospital. This comes directly on the heels of a new permit and consent decree which recognize that KPC represents a health risk to people in surrounding residences and businesses. A 50 lb release on Aug 21 sent 2 workers to the hospital. It was the result of improperly closing a digester. On Aug 23, a power failure caused the chemical recovery system to release enough SO2 to send three people at a nearby business to the hospital. Hand held monitors registered 10-20 ppm for more than 45 minutes. One person who was affected told the newspaper, "My Lungs started feeling like they were being squeezed. My hands and arms went tingly and numb. I couldn't breath. I was freaked out".
During 1995 and 1996 KPC reported over 70 accidental sulphur dioxide releases. In late July another incident sent nearby residents to the hospital.
In a complaint filed in Superior Court Aug 16th, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation alleges that : "The KPC mill has, on numerous occasions in the last five years, caused or allowed sulphur dioxide to escape into the ambient air through unplanned releases or process upsets." And that these releases have "escaped into the ambient air in concentrations that were potentially injurious to human health".
On Aug 30, KPC had another spill, 160 lbs. leaking out of a bad weld in a digester pipe. No one was hospitalized.
KPC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Louisiana-Pacific Corp.
* Eric Hummel, Tongass Conservation Society rtkp@ptialaska.net Phone: (907) 225-5827
Dear MillWatch,
I am writing in response to Mr. David Shipway's letter in the June/July edition of the Watershed Sentinel. The main point of this letter was his opinion that yellow cedar trees are being methodically turned into paper bags and newsprint stock. This conclusion was apparently reached from his examination of wood chips he found on a Cortes Island beach.
Yellow cedar, harvested in this province, is cut into lumber. Most of this product is exported to countries where it is valued because of its durability. To my knowledge there are only three saw mills in the province that cut this valued resource, the nearest being the Fields sawmill in Courtenay. Wood chips are residuals left over from lumber production.
The chips in question were likely destined for the Elk Falls mill in Campbell River, which is one of the few pulp mills in BC capable of processing yellow cedar fibre. We consume both chips and sawdust from the three sawmills in our kraft operations. If this material were not pulped it would be either burned or landfilled - alternate disposal options are extremely limited. Yellow cedar is totally unsuitable for newsprint, contrary to Mr. Shipway's suggestion.
The pulp and paper industry in BC uses the leftovers from the lumbering industry as its main source of raw material. The belief that we are turning whole trees into a disposable product is incorrect.
* C. A. Easton, Environmental Manager Fletcher Challenge Canada, Elk Falls Pulp and Paper, Campbell River BC
In August over 50 environmental groups in the Pacific North West signed onto a letter to the US Environmental Protection Agency about the proposed "Cluster Rules" for the pulp and paper industry. The EPA proposed technology-based effluent and air emissions standards for pulp and paper mills. The standards were weak and only required a switch to chlorine-dioxide bleaching.
* The sign on was co-ordinated by Laurie Valeriano at Washington Toxics Coalition (206-632-1545, email (wtc@igc.apc.org; att: Laurie) and Darrell Geist at Cold Mountains Cold Rivers (cmcr@ism.net) 406-728-0867.
Abbotsford BC is negotiating a contract to accept sewage and industrial waste from Sumas, Washington state, including the effluent from a proposed new recycling mill. The effluent will be treated and discharged to the Fraser. In March, B.C. Environment amended Abbotsford's discharge permit, allowing it to process sewage from Sumas and requiring that the effluent be dechlorinated prior to discharge. The National Energy System Company says its recycling mill, producing about 480 tonnes a day, "does not use virgin wood fibre from forests nor does it have any of the chemical bleaching, rendering or kraft cooking processes associated with traditional pulp mills."
* Vancouver Sun, July 1996