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11/6/02

Blue Ridge cleanup efforts questioned
Group seeks review of state permit

By Scott McLeod
Groups making the request to EPA:
° Clean Water for North Carolina
° American Canoe Association
° Americans for a Clean Environment
° American Whitewater
° Appalachian Voice
° Dead Pigeon River Council
° Dogwood Alliance
° People’s Action Coalition for the Environment
° Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project
° Tennessee Environmental Council
° Tennessee Clean Water Network
° WNC Chapter of the Sierra Club


A coalition of environmental organizations wants the EPA to ask the state to re-open the water quality permit for Blue Ridge Paper in Canton because they don’t think the company is adhering to promises made when the permit was issued.

Blue Ridge officials, though, say they are operating one of the most environmentally friendly paper mills in the country and that the concerns now raised by the environmentalists were addressed a year ago during their permit hearing.

Hope Taylor-Guevara of Clean Water for North Carolina says she was disappointed to discover that Blue Ridge had decided so early in this permit period not to implement some of the modernization processes that have been identified.

“It’s just a shame that the company is going to make an almost trivial amount of progress during this permit period when so much more is possible,” said Taylor-Guevara. “It’s just not good faith on their part.”

Bob Williams, the director of environmental health and safety affairs for the employee-owned company, said Blue Ridge has dealt openly and fairly with the environmental community and is doing all it can to clean up its process.

“We have, in the last few years, tried to be as proactive as we can and go beyond the requirements of our permit on every single occasion,” said Williams.

Of particular concern to the environmental coalition is the color of the river and the likelihood of significant improvements. They say the permit issued by the state will not force the mill to meet the color standards set by EPA in a 1998 Settlement Agreement. According to their Oct. 24 letter to EPA Chief Christine Todd Whitman and Region 4 Administrator James Palmer: “The people of downstream communities are realizing that this permit fails to offer the promise of actual improvement over the next four years, yet seeks to paint a public picture of substantial reductions that could lead to the lifting of the color variance.”

The state Division of Water Quality has granted Blue Ridge a water color “variance” for years. The state has not defined a standard for color, but its rules say discharges must have “no objectionable impact.” The 1998 Settlement Agreement with EPA defined the “no objectionable impact” level at 50 color units. Water enters Blue Ridge with a color value of 13, and it exits the mill with a value of between 150 and 200.

According to the current permit, Blue Ridge hopes to meet the 50-unit goal by 2006, but Guevara and others say that cost-effective, oxygen-based technology exists to reduce the color standard to 38 units.

Guevara said environmentalists did not issue a legal challenge to the permit in 2001 because they realized at the time Blue Ridge was undergoing economic difficulties.

“Their production was way down, partly due to 9/11. Our goal is to make this permit successful and the company profitable. We want to do the right thing,” she said.

The coalition’s assertion that Blue Ridge can improve its water quality is based on the findings of a technical review team that was allowed to inspect the mill’s entire operations in May 2001. In an unusual move, Blue Ridge opened its doors to environmentalists and their scientists. Guevara said that showed that implementing new technologies could vastly improve the river.

Right now the company is discharging around 39,000 pounds of color, which complies with the 2003 requirement of 42,000 pounds and nearly meets the 2006 requirements. Williams says the company must discharge below its maximum allowed amount in case there are problems that may lead to discharges above the legal limit. That way, he said, the “average” will meet state requirements.

“We have to operate at lower than permitted levels,” said Williams.

In the end, Taylor-Guevara said the state is the one that is not asking enough of Blue Ridge.

“The state of North Carolina has been protecting the permitee for way too long. Our feeling was that the state was going to under-regulate them, and that has turned out to be the case,” she said.

The EPA’s Carl Terry, a spokesperson in the Atlanta office, said the request from the coalition has been received and it is under review. He would not offer any further comment.