Action Alert!

Though the pulp and paper industry has reduced certain kinds of pollution from their mills, they still have a long way to go before their operations can be considered "healthy and sustainable."

The EPA will soon decide whether to require further reductions in pulp and paper mill pollution into our air and water. Unfortunately, EPA has been weak and needs to hear from concerned citizens.

Please, write, call and e-mail President Clinton to urge him to take action, through EPA, to eliminate chlorine in the pulp and paper industry (see arguments below):

The Honorable William Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

Phone: 202-456-1111
e-mail: president@whitehouse.gov

The pulp and paper industry is the second largest known source of dioxin [chlorinated plastics are the first], because the chlorine used to bleach paper combines with natural chemicals in the pulp to form dioxin and other chlorinated compounds.

As a general rule, chlorinated chemicals are stable once released into the environment, and they accumulate to toxic levels in our rivers, lakes, soil, wildlife, and food chain. Humans are exposed mostly through contaminated meat, fish and dairy products.

Under current law these highly toxic chlorinated chemicals are legally discharged into streams, land spread on farmland with waste mill sludges, and released into the air by paper sludge incinerators. In addition, our paper products (including baby diapers and feminine hygiene products) are often contaminated with dioxins and other chlorinated compounds.

The EPA's draft reassessment of the health risks from dioxin and other chlorinated chemicals links dioxin and related toxics to increased rates of breast, testicular and prostate cancers. Infertility, weakened immune systems, and nervous system disorders have also been associated with these toxics. Because of this, many states advise people not to eat fish or shellfish caught downstream from paper mills that use chlorine to bleach paper.

Wisconsin anglers have suffered from decades of these fish-eating warnings. Important commercial fisheries have been closed.

To eliminate this threat to our families and environment, paper mills must install Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) technology. TCF paper is being made in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. and meets all consumer demands for strength and brightness.

Worldwide, more than 65 mills have converted to TCF processes, but only one U.S. mill (Louisiana Pacific in northern California) has completely converted. The dominant paper companies in North America are determined to stifle interest in TCF, by promoting what they call "ECF" processes (Elemental Chlorine Free), which substitute the compound Chlorine dioxide for the use of pure chlorine gas. This substitute reduces the quantity of chlorinated chemical wastes, but doesn't come close to eliminating these persistent toxins in the waste discharges. The name "ECF" is also misleading, because the use of Chlorine dioxide does result in some elemental chlorine gas in paper making reactions.

TCF processes have several economic and environmental advantages. Chlorine and chlorine dioxide are extremely hazardous chemicals to transport and handle, and are high risks for explosions. These chemicals are also highly corrosive to equipment, requiring costly maintenance, or special equipment. Chlorine compounds also contaminate wastewaters, making it difficult or impossible to recycle wastewater back into the paper making process. By eliminating chlorine, these wastewaters can be re-used and discharge pipes to nearby rivers and lakes can be eliminated, which protects fish and wildlife, swimming and drinking water supplies. This also saves huge amounts of water, and greatly reduces energy requirements to treat and heat the process water. Other costly process chemicals can also be conserved if water is recycled. In addition, the burning or land spreading of waste sludges would be safer, because the paper sludges would no longer contain chlorinated toxins.

The North American paper industry is generally opposed to TCF processes, because they require higher short-term capital investments than a minimal conversion to ECF. However, in the long run, TCF processes are less expensive to operate, less risky for workers, and result in less long-term liability for the industry. Experts predict that most new mills will be TCF.

Aging mills, such as many of the mills in Wisconsin, won't be able to compete unless they make the proper switch in technology now. Thousands of jobs could be at stake.

Global markets are squeezing the U.S. industry. European countries are beginning to mandate only TCF papers. U.S. mills could lose major market shares by dragging their feet, just as the U.S. auto and steel industries did in the 1970's.

To make paper, large amounts of chlorine are typically used to break down the lignin (the sticky resin in wood) as well as to bleach or whiten the paper fibers. This chlorination inevitably produces dioxin and related chemicals. However, chlorine treatments can be eliminated by using a two-step process.

First, mills must convert to a technology called "Oxygen Delignification" (OD) is a substitute for the first stage of chlorination --- lowering the lignin content of the pulp to a point where waste water can be recycled, by-products gathered, and the remaining paper fibers can be effectively bleached.

Then, safer oxygen-based bleaching agents, such as hydrogen peroxide or ozone can be used to whiten the paper. Dioxin is eliminated and overall water quality is improved , which allows further water recycling.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to issue new air emission and water discharge standards for the pulp and paper industry, in a package called the "Cluster Rule" ---- and many environmentalists are disappointed by the lack of progress these standards will bring.

The EPA's "Cluster Rule," if done properly, could dramatically reduce the amount of dioxin and other pollutants released into our environment, but the EPA is currently only considering one of two weak options:

Option A: Require companies to substitute the use of pure chlorine with chlorine dioxide (an ECF process) which would reduce the amount of dioxin generated, but still discharge organo-chlorine laden wastewater into our water.

Option B: Require oxygen delignification (OD) plus chlorine dioxide substitution.

Neither of these options will eliminate chlorine bleaching agents completely. Nevertheless, several environmental groups are urging EPA to choose at least Option B, for the following reasons:

1. Option B significantly reduces toxic discharges, by eliminating at least one major chlorine stage in the process.
2. OD is a critical first step in TCF processes and gets the whole industry incrementally closer to this goal.
3. About one-third of U.S. mills have already installed OD. The EPA should reward, not penalize, their leadership, by requiring their competitors to make similar pro-environmental investments.
   
4. Option A does not move the industry any closer to TCF and should be rejected.

Many of us are disappointed with the Clinton Administration's lack of leadership on this issue --- giving us such weak choices. This long-awaited rule could do so much more, and could actually help to revitalize and sustain an aging U.S. paper industry. Several European countries have required smart investing, and their paper mills are thriving with modern TCF processes