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No. 8 February 1997 News for All Interested in Featuring News, Analysis, Resources and Contacts |
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MillWatch table of contents
MillWatch No. 8 - February 1997
Sludge and Solid Waste
Ethical Investing and Shareholders' Resolutions
Pollution in Puget Sound
Port Angeles Toxic Cleanup
Maine Mills Back Out on Dioxin Elimination
Howe Sound Appeals
Chip Mill Invasion
Solid Wastes Appeal
Asian Pulp and Paper
Tissue Production Increase
Ontario Thermo-mechanical
Website for Mill Info
Health effects of ClO2
Dioxin Conference
Clean Paper Making for the 21st Century
MillWatch by email
Thanks this issue to Laurie Valeriano of Washington Toxics Coalition, Miranda Holmes of Georgia Strait Alliance, Eric Hummel of the Right-To-Know Project in Ketchikan Alaska, Hugh McNabb of Howe Sound, Bruce Heibert of the Coalition for Responsible Investment and Darrell Geist of Montana CHEER.
In BC, Reach for Unbleached!, local activists, the West Coast Environmental Law Association, and the Pulp Paper and Woodworkers of Canada, as well as some industry representatives have been invited to participate in a scoping discussion with provincial regulators about the land disposal of pulp mill sludge. The province has asked the committee to advise them about potential concerns with the dispersal of sludge. In the next few months the province will draw up a summary of the current state of research before looking for new information. The committee will continue to discuss the criteria which should be applied to this material, and the province promises that the process will result in a wide-ranging public consultation before any provincial decision is made. Participation in the advisory committee is entirely unfunded, which creates considerable hardship for environmental participants.
If you have any information about the chemical analysis of sludge, any results from your local mill, or any questions which you think should be considered, please contact Reach for Unbleached.
After extensive negotiations with Champion International Corporation of Stamford, Connecticut, the North West Coalition for Responsible Investment is initiating a shareholder's resolution that calls for a schedule to phase out the use of all chlorine-containing compounds from Champion's pulp & paper production. Champion, one of the largest pulp and paper companies in North America, agreed, for the first time in the company's 10 year history with shareholder resolutions, to allow the resolution's language to speak about the company's intentions instead of just about the proponent's opinions. They also waived the 500 word maximum resolution length and are willing to have The North West Coalition for Responsible Investment make editorial comments on its proxy rebuttal statement.
The resolution, being filed on behalf of the Methodist General Board of Pensions, discusses the issue of employee health as well as potential financial losses from litigation, forced clean-ups, higher operating costs, health insurance and fines. It calls for the company to act as an environmental and technological innovator by completely eliminating organo-chlorines from their paper production.
* For more information contact Bruce T. Herbert, NW Coalition for Responsible Investment at (206) 325-0301, fax: (325)1640; email: THCz@aol.com.
Toxic Soup, a report by People for Puget Sound, evaluates the water quality records of the eight pulp and paper mills operating in the Puget Sound Region. These eight mills create over 4000 tons of pulp and paper products each day, and four of the pulp mills bleach their pulp using chlorine or chlorine-based compounds. The amount of wastewater generated by each mill and the levels of AOX (Adsorbable Organic Halides) released by the four chlorine-based mills are shown in the following table.
The mills were ranked according to their compliance with permit conditions and the amount of AOX generated. Sonoco was given a ranking of "A", while three of the eight mills (Georgia-Pacific, Kimberley-Clark and Rayonier) were rated as "D" or lower. There have been 60 fines issued to the mills over the last seven years for violations of permit conditions and for illegal spills of wastewater or oil.
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AOX/month |
wastewater/day |
| Daishowa |
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| Georgia-Pacific |
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| Kimberley-Clark |
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| Port Townsend |
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| Rayonier |
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| Simpson |
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| Stone |
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| SonocoMill process |
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* People for Puget Sound, January, 1997
For an online copy of Toxic Soup see www.pugetsound.org
Rayonier Inc. has yet to announce its intentions regarding contamination cleanup at its Port Angeles mill site which ceases operations on February 28.
Contaminants suspected to be present include dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and up to 1,000 other chlorinated and non-chlorinated substances. According to People For Puget Sound's recently released Toxic Soup report on water quality in Puget Sound, Rayonier discharges close to 35 million gallons of treated effluent into the Strait of Juan de Fuca every day. The company's landfill at Mt Pleasant holds a mixture of sludge dredged from the Strait, hog fuel boiler ash, petroleum-contaminated soils and other mill wastes. Part of the site is unlined, allowing seepage of contaminants into ground water.
* People for Puget Sound, Sound & Straits, February 1997;
The Penobscot Indian Nation, four environmental groups, and the Maine Peoples Alliance (a citizen action group) recently suspended their involvement in "stakeholder" talks following the paper industry's refusal to honor their commitment to end dioxin discharges. Industry has consistently argued that their pledge to "eliminate" dioxin does not mean that their contribution of dioxin to Maine's waters will be zero.
* Natural Resources Council of Maine, December, 1996
Howe Sound Pulp Mill near Vancouver BC has recently run into local opposition on its new permits. In rezoning land for Howe Sound pulp mill's new 17 hectare landfill for flyash, grate ash and sludge wastes, the Sunshine Coast Regional Board expressed reservations about siting the landfill on steep terrain in a very high rainfall area within an active earthquake zone. An amended permit issued by the BC Ministry of Environment requires the mill to use "state of the art" design and construction techniques.
Meanwhile, a request for a fourfold increase in its permitted levels of sulphur dioxide emissions has run afoul of pop star and mill opponent Terry Jacks. Last year the mill exceeded its current permit levels ten times during a two month period. The mill says their permit was originally set at levels too low for their equipment to meet. Jacks, along with a coalition of other concerned organizations, says he will see the Minister of Environment in court.
* Victoria Times Colonist and local newspaper clippings, January 1997
Over twenty citizen groups from Arkansas to North Carolina, recently united as the "Dogwood Alliance," are calling for a moratorium on licencing more chip mills until government agencies investigate the economic and environmental impacts of the industry's unsustainable forestry practices. Since the mid 1980's, clearcutting in the South has accelerated due to the operation of more than eighty high capacity chip mills.
* Western Ancient Forest Campaign, January 1997
The BC Ministry of Environment recently ordered a stay until March 1997 on MacMillan Bloedel's permit to spread mill waste at two trial sites in Powell River. The permit allowed the experimental spreading of green liquor dregs on an old golf course and grate ash on logging roads. The appellants, Paddy Goggins, writer Anne Cameron and Delores Broten of Reach for Unbleached! raised numerous concerns about the untested toxins that may be present in the mill waste.
The mill voluntarily put on hold the component of its application which called for the dispersal of primary and secondary sludge on forest plantations, after residents raised strenuous concerns about the high levels of dioxin in the sludge. Coastal pulp mills have dioxin in sludge in large part because they burn "salted" hog fuel chips from logs which have been soaked in ocean water.
* Reach for Unbleached! files.
The Paper Mill Channel® reports that Asia Pulp Paper Company Ltd. (APP) plans new paper machines with freesheet production capacity of 425,000 tons each at three of its mills in Indonesia. APP will also construct a pulp mill in Malaysia and add a converting facility to its operations in Yu-shan Town, China. Singapore-based APP currently has 15 manufacturing facilities in Indonesia and China, $7.5 Billion in assets and annual sales of $2 billion.
According to the Paper Mill Channel®, Georgia-Pacific will spend $150 million to add a new tissue machine and converting equipment to its Crossett, Arkansas operation. The machine is expected to increase Georgia-Pacific's tissue capacity by 10% by late 1998. Georgia-Pacific is currently the fourth largest producer of packaged tissue in the US, with 10% of the industry's capacity.
The Paper Mill Channel® reported that Abitibi- Price opened its $135 million thermo-mechanical pulp plant at Iroquois Falls, Ontario in September. The TMP plant will produce 1100 tons of pulp per day for specialty papers and newsprint produced on site.
The Paper Mill Channel®, a website operated by the Industrial Exchange Corporation, is billed as an electronic market place and trade journal for paper professionals. Its news section is updated every two months. Refer to: www.thepapermillchannel.com/tpmc/pmcindex.htm
Recent research indicates that exposure to chlorine dioxide gas can trigger an immune response that produces asthma-like symptoms. The study involved patients complaining of upper respiratory symptoms five years after exposure to ClO2. Respiratory distress caused by physical irritants (such as PM10) or chemical irritants (such as ClO2) was shown to involve a near-instantaneous inflammatory reaction in the patients' airways.
* Our Toxic Times Newsletter. Source: Meggs et al. (1996) Nasal Pathology & Ultrastructure in Patients with Chronic Airway Inflamation Following an Irritant Exposure Clinical Toxicology 34(4):383-96
Physicians for Social Responsibility is sponsoring the Second Annual Dioxin and Health Conference on Saturday, March 1, 1997 at the Salem Public Library, Oregon. The conference will feature leading national speakers addressing incineration, pesticides, chlorine bleaching at pulp mills and our consumer-oriented lifestyles. Admission is free but reservations are necessary. (503) 370-6606.
* Physicians for Social Responsibility, January 1997
A unique citizens' conference will be held April 10 to 13, 1997 at the Radisson Inn Conference Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Conference will focus on exciting state-of- the- art technologies which promise to solve many of the pollution and other environmental problems associated with the industry. One of the goals is to strengthen the network of informed citizens throughout our continent who work together to promote clean paper making.
The conference will give a thorough overview of technical information (presented from a layperson's perspective) on several aspects of paper making from air and water pollution prevention to changing consumer demands.
A key focus will be TCF (Totally Chlorine Free) papers. The technical presentations will feature primarily industry experts from paper industries who are currently using or installing new technologies. The conference will end with workshops on how these innovations can be promoted nationwide.
Hosted by the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin and cosponsored by a wide range of organizations.
* To receive a brochure, please send your name, affiliation, address, phone, fax, and email to:
Rebecca Leighton Katers, Conference Coordinator, Oneida Environmental Resources Board, 3759 West Mason, Ridgeview Plaza, Suite #4, Oneida, WI 54155; ph: (414)497-5812 or (414)468-4243; fax: (414)468-1234; email: paperconf@execpc.com
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