Pulp Mill Pollution

San Francisco, CA: (Oct-02-07) The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the California Air Resources Board, and North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District brought a lawsuit against Evergreen Pulp, Inc., alleging that the company violated the federal emission standard for hazardous air pollutants by approximately 230 percent, and violated monitoring, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements. The suit claimed that the company also allegedly violated state air pollution control laws for nuisance, opacity, and air pollution control equipment maintenance requirements. Pulp mills also emit toxic metals including, antimony, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, nickel, and selenium. Health effects associated with exposure to these toxic metals can include cancer, reproductive and developmental effects, gastrointestinal effects, damage to the nervous system, and irritation to the eyes, skin, and respiratory system.

As part of a settlement reached, Evergreen Pulp agreed to a $5 million deal to resolve the environment damage allegations. Under the settlement, Evergreen will pay a combined penalty totaling $900,000 to be shared equally among the three regulatory agencies. The company also spent approximately $4 million to install a pollution control device on its lime kiln that uses electric charges to capture and collect tiny particles of air pollution. Recent source tests show that the device is reducing harmful particulate emissions. [YOSEMITE EPA: PULP MILL POLLUTION]

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Published on Oct-3-07