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No. 19 February 1999 News for All Interested in Featuring News, Analysis, Resources and Contacts |
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MillWatch table of contents
MillWatch No. 19 - February 1999
Port Angeles Mill Declared Superfund Toxic Site
Stone Goes Cold Turkey!
Crestbrook Sells BC Mills
Pulp And Paper Breaks Even
Howe Sound Mill Ceases To Exist For Canfor
Gold River Closed
Ontario Reviews Health Risks From Paper Sludge
Enforcement Works Better Than Voluntary Measures
Moving Backwards
Beginning Of The End Of The Age Of Pulp And Paper?
From Sweden: "In Spite Of Dismal Pulp Market Sodra Cell In Privileged Seat"
MillWatch is sponsored by Reach for Unbleached! Canada to connect people and resources working on pulp and paper issues. Thanks to Darlene Schanfald, Olympic Environmental Council, Port Angeles WA, Rhonda Turner, East Kootenay Environmental Society, Joan Sell, Quadra Resort, Darrell Geist, Cold Rivers Cold Mountains Montana, Philip Fleischer, the Brainerd Foundation and our donors who fund this newsletter, and all those in communities working to help their mill clean up. Write to us!
In January, Region 10-US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) voted to recommend the closed Rayonier Pulp Mill in Port Angeles for Superfund listing. The mill site, adjoining Port Angeles Harbour in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and upland properties were found to contain levels of dioxins, PCBs and heavy metals in sufficient quantities to meet Superfund criteria. Superfund recommended and listed sites equal some of the worst contaminated sites in America.
The mill operated for nearly 70 years and was a sulfite, chlorine dependent mill. It closed in February 1997. A coalition of 15 organizations, representing 4 Pt. Angeles homeowner associations and 11 local and western WA health, education and environmental organizations representing over 200,000 citizens of WA State, and 29 individuals petitioned the EPA to assess the mill, 3 industrial land dumps sited in residential areas, and 4 streams that storm water and perhaps leachate drain into.
Mill reports can be obtained from: Joanne LaBaw, Region 10 EPA, 1200 6th Avenue, Seattle WA 98101 or labaw.joanne@epamail.epa.gov
Region 10 EPA also voted to retain lead agency status, i.e., oversite of the cleanup, rather than defer this status to WA State Dept. of Ecology. EPA was strongly supported by Olympic Environmental Council (OEC), the Lower Elwha Tribe and other federal jurisdictional agencies. However, at this point in time, the Department of Ecology, at the insistence of Rayonier and certain Port Angeles elected officials and community leaders, are pressuring the Tribe to withdraw its support for listing and EPA lead. Rayonier is trying to keep the site off the Superfund List, put the state Ecology Department in the lead oversight seat, and make it a less stringent and cheaper cleanup for Rayonier. Meanwhile, EPA is proceeding towards listing the site.
OEC believes that listing is the "hammer" to getting a cleanup. It is the only program that guarantees citizens decision- making status.
Following a very critical review by Dr. Joel Hirschhorn, the Petitioners' Technical Advisor of EPA's sampling, analysis, and reports of the land dumps, EPA agreed to do an expanded site investigation of one of the dump sites. EPA is allowing the Petitioners to chose the sampling sites and the sampling for dioxins as Dr. Hirschhorn recommends. If this investigation evidences levels of concern, EPA will retest the other two dump sites. EPA's earlier testing evidenced high levels of dioxins/furans, PCBs and heavy metals on- and off-site. EPA, not wanting to list land dumps as Superfund sites, concluded that since the on-and off-site levels of contamination per medium did not match, perhaps the off-site contamination may have come from another source!
The Petitioners' technical critiques of the EPA reports can be obtained from: Darlene Schanfald, Ph.D., Olympic Environmental Council, 3632 O'Brien Rd., Pt. Angeles WA 98362, or email darlenes@olympus.net
The kind of hazardous wastes found on and off site (dioxins, PCBs and heavy metals) were in sufficient quantities to have contaminated sediments and likely food sources. Further, in just a sampling, they have been discovered in soils of the Pt. Angeles hospital district (Olympic Memorial Hospital) and throughout the community. EPA says the body burdens of dioxins tend to be higher in people near sites like Rayonier.
PCBS Dumped In Juan De Fuca
The WA State Department of Ecology (DOE) recently announced it fined Rayonier, Inc. $12,000 -- 16¢ per gallon! -- for discharging 1.2 million gallons of hydraulic fluid and PCB contaminated ground water into the Strait of Juan de Fuca over a 12 day period in October. The release, said to be caused by human error and a faulty valve, occurred during a cleanup of soils contaminated over years with PCBs and hydraulic oils. Ecology's press release stated that "Fortunately the pollutants were diluted sufficiently by the [Strait of Juan de Fuca] that Ecology believes the release caused no imminent health threat." However, Ecology's report said "given that PCBs persist in the marine environment for many years, and are known to bioaccumulate in animal tissues, the release does increase the cumulative threat to human health and the environment posed by these chemicals." PCBs are immunosuppressing chemicals which affect developing embryos and can cause mental and physical disorders at any age, and possibly female breast cancer. No amount of dilution prevents this.
According to state enforcement records, Rayonier was fined for 57 air and water quality violations between 1985 to early 1995. In addition to the October release into the Strait, they have had two other water violations since they began demolition of the closed mill, a release of oil in March 1997 and a release of waste water onto the ground due to another faulty valve and pipe in August 1998.
A 1967 federal report listed Rayonier as contributing about 92 percent of combined discharges of sulfides and other poisons (principal causes of fish mortalities) into Port Angeles Harbor/Strait and led to future treatment before discharge. Yet, in 1996, under Ecology's oversight, it was reported that WA State ranks 12th in the US for the amount of all toxic chemicals discharged into waterways and led all states in the amount of cancer causing chemicals that flowed "legally" into waterways between 1990 to 1994. The Strait is the second dirtiest waterway. Rayonier has topped all industrial plants in toxic chemical releases to air and water.
* Sources: The Lancet, 1998; 352; 1816-20; Washington State Department of Ecology, Pollutional Effects of Pulp and Paper Mill Wastes in Puget Sound, 3/97; USEPA Toxic Release Inventory 1995.
As of June, 1999 Stone Container will close its bleach plant in Missoula, Montana, making only 100% unbleached product. The company is moving to chlorine dioxide in its other mills. The Montana mill has been the focus of relentless citizen activism for several years, including lawsuits over emissions violations.
Ontario-based Tembec Inc. has agreed to buy Crestbrook Forest Industries for $270 million. The company believes the issue of costs in BC's troubled forests industry are now coming under control and that expanding into the region is a good opportunity to focus on newsprint, pulp and lumber interests. Crestbrook's Skookumchuck pulp mill - its major asset - is ranked lowest-cost producer in BC. The mill underwent a $291 million modernization in 1992.
* Vancouver Sun, January 1999
Canada's huge pulp and paper industry just managed to break even in 1998 although exports fell as much as 97 per cent to Asian countries. The Canadian Pulp and Paper Association called it a disastrous year, though not as bad as 1997 which showed a combined loss of $435 million. The industry expects shipment in pulp, paper and paperboard to increase in 1999 due to favourable outlooks for North America and Europe. Asian demand is expected to bounce back in 2000.
* Victoria Times Colonist, January 1999
Canfor has written off its $146 million investment in Howe Sound Pulp and Paper. The mill has been losing money since it began production after a massive refit in 1988. Canfor will continue to be a 50 per cent shareholder, but the value of the shares will be zero. The writedown essentially makes Canfor an Interior forest-products company with only one major coastal timber tenure at Woss Lake. This action will have no immediate effect on the mill which will continue to operate.
* Vancouver Sun, February 1999
Bowater walked away from its pulp mill in Gold River BC in February, leaving the small town dependent on UIC and severance payments until new enterprises can start up. The company agreed to buy workers' homes at cost.
Farmers and rural residents in Ontario are complaining about health problems related to the spreading of paper sludge on farm fields. "When they spread it on the fields near me I can feel my lungs close up," said Don Whitcombe, who runs a tree nursery and landscaping business in Beaverton. "My daughter has asthma, and she really suffers." Residents are describing their symptoms in letters to the Medical Officer of Health in their district in order to document health problems they believe are related to the "Soil Enrichment" program run by Atlantic Packaging and Courtice Auto Wreckers.
But the concern about health risks is not limited to breathing problems. Chemicals in the sludge are also a concern. This paper mill sludge, the waste from the Atlantic Packaging paper mills in Scarborough and Whitby, contains calcium carbonate, short paper fibre, kaolin clay, ink and dye residues, and chemicals used in de-inking and processing. It also contains dioxins which are some of the most toxic chemicals known to man.
In a letter to the Ministry of the Environment, Dr. Alex Hukowich, Medical Officer of Health for Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District, questions the Ministry assumptions when it comes to dioxins: "I believe the Ministry's position should be to carefully examine the amounts of such substances (PCB's and dioxins) which continue to be released into the environment ... so as to decrease human exposure."
Recent audit tests from the Ministry of the Environment determined that the laboratory used by the mill was not using acceptable methods of dioxin detection. Ministry officials found that the real levels of dioxin were far higher than those reported by the mill. Ministry audits revealed a level of 3.5 parts per trillion total toxic equivalents. While this amount of dioxin is within current Ministry standards, it is above the levels reported for average Ontario farm soil. Dioxins are persistent organic contaminants and they tend to accumulate in the soil. Rural residents would like to see a dioxin audit of farms that have been receiving sludge for the past five years.
Health risk assessments from the Department of Health in Wisconsin demonstrate that a significant cancer risk is associated with grazing livestock on land that contains more than 0.5 parts per trillion of dioxin. Since most of the human exposure to dioxins comes from food sources, especially meat and milk, pasture land application of paper sludge may be creating unacceptable risks.
Townships have also expressed concern about the lack of research from the company. Brock town council has asked for testing for health impacts such as asthma as a condition of the program. Manvers Township has written to the Ministry about pasture land application and stated that they "strongly oppose the spreading of paper sludge on agriculture lands in our municipality as this is not
considered to be a soil enrichment program."
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment will decide whether to renew the program this month.
* Brock Land Stewardship Society, February 1999. For more information call: Maureen Reilly (705)438-1456, Lynn Sproule (705)432-2135, or Don Whitcombe (705)426-4431
A new study by Peter Krahn of Environment Canada explodes the myth that industry is able to successfully regulate itself and shows that government enforcement leads to better environmental protection. He provides a factual basis for policy makers when determining the best course of action.
Wood preservation facilities and pulp and paper mills in BC discharged over 750 million cubic metres of toxic effluents in 1986. In response, Environment Canada initiated the Fraser River Action Plan (FRAP) in 1992. Four years later, they conducted a review of compliance with technical criteria and effluent discharge limits by 19 industrial sectors.
The data revealed that in most cases voluntary measures achieved a minimal positive result for both compliance rates and reductions in toxic discharges. It showed as well that mandatory environmental law enforcement strategies dramatically improved average compliance rates from a pre-enforcement average of 60% to over 90%, and subsequently reduced harmful effluent discharges by up to 99%.
Examples were given in the antisapstain wood preservative, pulp and paper, and wood preservation industries where voluntary compliance resulted in low implementation of corrective measures, while enforcement strategies resulted in much greater compliance.
Peter Krahn notes that the nature of the competitive environment makes industry owners and/or managers poorly suited to impose environmentally responsible operating conditions on recalcitrant members of their particular sector. However, properly designed environmental law enforcement programs level the economic playing field and focus the cost of pollution control on the producers and consumers of polluting products and services.
* Global Diversity, Canadian Museum of Nature, Fall 1998
The purchase of recycled printing paper and plastic products is waning in the US, despite 47 state laws and price preferences in many states, US purchases of recycled paper are down from the early 1990s.
* Recycled Product News, October 1998
Nicholas K. Sheridon, a scientist at the Xerox Research Center in Palo Alto California, is working on a project which could eventually replace paper with digital displays. His invention would be thin and flexible yet durable, use only tiny amounts of power, hold images indefinitely, be used for both writing and reading, and be reused millions of times.
The current prototype is a 15 x 15cm device which is as thin as seven sheets of paper, is fueled entirely by a tiny solar cell and can hold its image for months without a power source. 'Gyricon' contains a thin rubber membrane made by mixing tiny plastic balls (0.03 to 0.1 millimeters in diameter) which are black on one side and white on the other. The rubber material is then soaked in oil which allows the balls to rotate freely. A chemical process sends an electric charge with more on one side than the other. Xerox is now looking for ways to use various colours in the process.
For certain applications, this technology appears to be only a few years from market. Uses could include large commercial signs, laptop and hand held computers and eventually an electronic surrogate for paper.
* Scientific American, September 1998
From Sweden: "In Spite Of Dismal Pulp Market Sodra Cell In Privileged Seat"
The Asiatic crisis lies at the root of the poor price level that prevails on the pulp market at the moment. In this situation it is, however, worth noting that Sodra Cell is among the few pulp producers in the world that in spite of everything will make a profit this year ...
Asiatic countries import of Southern Mixed Hardwood from the USA has been more than halved since 1994, when it was 1.5 million tonnes, to this year's figure of just over 600,000 tonnes. At the same time Indonesia's pulp sales in Asia have increased from 200,000 tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes. The main reason - a strong dollar and weak Asiatic currencies, which make North American pulp too expensive for the Asians.
"For example in South Korea consumers are used to good quality paper. Therefore paper manufacturers try to find good quality pulp at the lowest price possible and therefore they chose the Indonesian pulp," explains Ake Axelsson, Sodra Cell's market analyst.
American, Canadian and Brazilian pulp producers naturally attempt to compensate for the faltering Asiatic market by competing on other markets - above all in Europe. Reducing prices is the method used for enticing Europe's pulp buyers, thereby forcing a general reduction in pulp prices.
In spite of this, Swedish sales of pulp have increased somewhat.
"It appears that European suppliers and buyers of pulp have quite a stable relationship ... The USA and Canada have not been able to get any volumes worth mentioning in Europe, but they have managed to force down the price," says Ake Axelsson.
Sodra Cell Makes Profit
Right in the middle of this rather dismal market situation there is perhaps reason for Sodra Cell's employees to feel a certain satisfaction about the company's relatively good situation. At the same time as the majority of the world's pulp producers will make a loss this year, Sodra Cell makes a profit.
"We are regarded as a serious and long-term supplier - at the same time as paper manufacturers do not really dare to trust Canadian paper mills on the brink of ruin and therefore look for other suppliers," explains Sodra Cell's outgoing Managing Director Tom Almgren.
In general it can be said that Finnish pulp mills, which by and large are modern and efficient, will also make a profit this year.
"For Sweden's and Finland's part, pulp producers were faced with their crisis during the 70s and 80s - at that time the Canadians were the big winners," points out Ake Axelsson. "It is reasonable to assume that today's crisis in Canada will give birth to something new."
In other words, in 15-20 years time the Canadian pulp industry could once again be a large and formidable competition and Tom Almgren sends this warning for the future:
"It is extremely important that Sodra Cell continues the whole time with its single-minded investment and efficiency measures, in order that the company is well prepared to meet competition from new quarters."
* Reprinted from Sodra Cell Responze 2/98