We just received a call from the Times Standard saying that the mill will be closing permanently. We just checked the Freshwater Pulp Website; it's official! Please continue to comment on our blog. There are many unanswered questions. Who is going to clean up the mill site? How was this environmental disaster allowed to go on so long with so little scrutiny? Why did environmental organizations and public officials all stand in line to support the reopening of this old mill despite its environmental record?
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Today we added the Administrative Civil Liabilities Order No. R-1-2008-0097, Exceedences of Limitations (for the protection of human health carcinogens), for Evergreen Pulp March 1, 2005 to December 31, 2007, page one, to the page with the health risk assessment 2006. We will include more later. Just the first page includes some quite shocking numbers, look at the number of gallons and the pounds per day.
Dear Amy Goodman and Democracy Now staff,
We have faxed you an article in which the new owner of our local mill, Bob Simpson of Freshwater Pulp, says that Amy Goodman might come here to cover the story about the possible reopening of the mill. Bob Simpson comes from an old lumber family in Humboldt County. He was the former manager of the mill he has now bought (formerly Samoa Mill) when it was owned by Lousiana Pacific. I think you know how notorious LP is. They were given the biggest fine in EPA history at least up till 1998. However he was present when the mill switched to chlorine free production. I cannot provide you with the details at this moment but I would be happy to if you are interested. The local papers and Simpson are claiming that the new mill will be environmentally friendly. They are supposedly turning over a new leaf. Anything we say is dismissed with the argument that it will be different this time. We don’t believe it for a second. Just look at the Freshwater Pulp website. You will find no such environmental plan except using the Tan Oak instead of redwood. Under the last owner Evergreen Pulp, they were almost never up to code. All they had to do was ask for variances from the air district to be allowed to pollute beyond EPA levels and they got one every time. Understand that these would allow for illegal pollution for six months at a stretch. To the credit of our local water board, they did eventually rescind their water permit because the violations were so over the top. They would dump contaminants into our air at night when everyone was asleep. It rained black dust. The Humboldt county blood cancer rate is double the national average. This is typical of mill counties. The mill counties of Southern Oregon have the same rate. However, we could not find a statistically significant difference in the rate in the neighborhoods surrounding the mill, like our own neighborhood of West Eureka. If you are indeed going to cover this story, please look into the story behind the story. The local papers will print nothing critical of the mill. One notable exception was when the last owner of the mill (David Tsang) left without a trace leaving workers without health insurance, dodging large EPA fines. They seemed unconcerned about the repeated disregard for environmental laws before that. Our local air board, city council and media supported even the now notorious David Tsang. They are not going to question Bob Simpson.This is the last pulp mill in California. Simpson wants 400 million dollars of stimulus money and loans. Even if you weren’t already covering the story as Simpson implied, you may want to consider it. We have included part of a draft of a Health Risk assessment done for Evergreen Pulp and an article about it. Basically, they were supposed to test for hexavalent chromium and failed to do so in the remaining three years of their ownership. Also, Acrolein, a pulmonary irritant used as chemical warfare in WWI was present at very high levels. They never did a final draft of the health risk assessment. The Eureka Times StandardWe told them we smelled the stink from the mill. They said we were exaggerating. We told them it made us sick. They ignored us and gave it a variance allowing it to continue to pollute. We told them about the black smoke and ashes we saw at night. They said it wasn’t so. We told them we were afraid of cancer and pointed to the high cancer rate in Humboldt County. They treated us like we were crazy. The E.P.A. fined the mill for violations again and again. The Chamber of Commerce made it the business of the year. Then the mill owners left town, leaving no forwarding address.Now a new company wants to start this mill up again. Once again those in authority including elected officials and even some environmental organizations stand and applaud. “Everyone is in favor of this new plan,” they say. Yet all the meetings have been behind closed doors. No one has asked us, those who live here. We are expendable. They say this time it won’t pollute, but a kraft pulp mill by definition puts out carcinogens. We have double the national rate of blood cancers. This is typical in mill counties. They can add equipment that will lower the level, but they can’t eliminate the toxins. You can dress a pig up and take it to the party, but it will still be a pig. This mill should never operate again and our tax money should not be used for it. Sincerely, Carol Binder
No New money for Old mill by Leila Binder from the Humboldt Herald Remember the movie Erin Brockovich? It told the true story of a woman who helped victims sue PG&E for a cancer cluster caused by hexavalent chromium. Evergreen Pulp produced this metal as well. A draft of a Health risk assessment of Evergreen Pulp dated October 2006, never shared with the public in the two years it continued to operate, states: “The modeled cancer health risk at point of maximum impact (PMI) is above the threshold limits established by the California Air Toxics Hot Spots program….The acute health risk exceeds the North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District threshold because of the estimated acrolein emissions from the pulp dryer….Of the toxic air contaminants, hexavalent chromium contributes the most cancer risk….Acrolein [a pulmonary irritant] is the greatest contributor to chronic and acute risks, accounting for 99.6% of the acute hazard index.” Apparently, they didn’t actually do tests on the hexavalent chromium itself. This was a projection based on other mills. The report suggested that further tests be done on this and some other contaminants as well. If these tests were done, a follow up report was never filed. So was this dangerous metal (a Proposition 65 listed carcinogen) properly monitored? Did the local air board do anything to ensure that this was done? And now Evergreen Pulp has left town without a trace, leaving mill workers, some with cancer, without health insurance or pay. Bob Simpson wants to reopen the mill and build a tissue plant. We don’t have local government agencies that hold companies accountable for their violations, agencies that will make sure the environmental violations under Evergreen, and before that under Stockton Pacific and Louisiana Pacific, are not repeated. When Evergreen Pulp violated environmental laws, they asked the local air board for variances allowing them to continue to pollute and they got them. The aforementioned report states: “The mill is one of the facilities in Humboldt County that is defined as a major source of air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.” Why should Simpson spend good money on a clean plant when local agencies only weakly and belatedly enforce environmental laws? Why not just ask for variances instead? With the 400 million dollars Simpson has asked for we could create another type of business for Humboldt county using newer clean technologies instead of trying to revamp an old dirty mill built in 1965. Humboldt County needs the jobs that a reopening of the mill would bring. But what good would it do to be employed but get cancer? I feel that the health hazards outlined in this report should be investigated (contaminants are likely still in the groundwater and possibly peoples’ bodies) and the mill should not be reopened. The health risk assessment of the Evergreen pulp mill may be obtained by anyone at the local air board office. |
AuthorWe live here in West Eureka have been victims of Evergreen Pulp's pollution. Now Freshwater Pulp wants to start it up again. We would like to know your thoughts and experiences with this. Now that Freshwater is not going to reopen, we are concerned about the massive quantity of contaminants that have been dumped on the site. These sites usually leak into adjacent areas and people live 750 yards from the point of maximum impact, the most polluted point, a Hot spot. We are also concerned that the Marina center site be properly cleaned up and will continue to discuss other local issues here. However, we will not let the mill issue rest until we actually see the smokestacks go down and the site is cleaned up. Archives
June 2019
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