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Thursday, September 22, 2005
River cleanup plans likely to face appeals
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State environmental regulators unveiled a 10-year plan to clean up the Androscoggin River Wednesday, then braced for appeals from various sides in the long-running legal battle. A set of new licenses and agreements will require paper mills and sewage treatment plants to clean their discharges into the river between Rumford and Lewiston over the next decade. Owners of the mills and the Gulf Island dam also will have to pump additional oxygen into the river above the dam so fish can live there. The plan is the culmination of a 20-year effort to bring what was once one of the nation's dirtiest rivers up to all of the state's minimum water quality standards, said Andrew Fisk of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. "This is the first time we've had all the pieces" in place, he said. DEP Commissioner Dawn Gallagher released a statement saying the plan will eliminate algae blooms and increase oxygen levels in Gulf Island Pond, which separates Lewiston and Auburn and is the river's dirtiest section. She credited citizens, paper companies, environmental advocates and others who helped shape the rules. "We should be proud," Gallagher said in the statement. While touting the plan, the agency also is expecting multiple challenges, either to Maine's Board of Environmental Protection or the courts, or both. "I think everyone will appeal," said Fisk. Environmental advocates and area residents had pushed for more aggressive action and said Wednesday they are considering appeals. Paper mill owners had argued for more time and less stringent rules, although spokesmen for two mills said Wednesday the facilities should be able to adjust to the plan. The new permits and agreements take effect immediately, though many of the provisions will affect operations starting next summer. Giving industrial polluters 10 more years to clean up the waterway may be illegal and will undermine the federal Clean Water Act, said Naomi Schalit, executive director of Maine Rivers. "We've never seen anything like this in Maine," she said. "The way the law works is you're supposed to be in compliance immediately, but the precedent is you have five years to meet the standards." Environmental advocates and some residents say state government caved in to pressure from the powerful industry. "I understand how important those (paper mill) jobs are," said Neil Ward, a Leeds residents and member of the Androscoggin River Alliance. But, he said, "10 percent of the state's population lives downstream of the paper industry. . . . We want everybody to be able to use that river, including the paper mills." Gregory D'Augustine, a leader of the Alliance who lives along the river in Greene, said the Androscoggin is much cleaner than it was decades ago. But there's no reason it shouldn't be as clean as virtually every other river in Maine, he said. "We've seen a revitalization of . . . Lewiston and Auburn along the river as the water quality improved, and I think we would see that continue if the water quality continues to get better," he said. Fisk said the 10-year time frame allows the mills to make the improvements in the most cost-effective ways. For example, improving waste treatment processes is a better way for the mills to reduce phosphorous pollution than to immediately install more treatment equipment, he said. In addition to new discharge limits, the plan requires the owners of the mills and the Gulf Island dam to install additional equipment to pump oxygen into the river. The companies already spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to oxygenate the water. A spokesman for the dam's owner, FPL Energy, could not be reached Wednesday, though DEP officials expect the company to appeal. In addition to the added oxygen pumping, FPL is required to contribute $100,000 to reduce phosphorous discharges from a sewage treatment plant upstream of its dam. Fisk said that's because the dam contributes to algae blooms and other problems by slowing the river's flow. Officials have expected the paper mills to appeal, too. Spokesmen for the two mills covered by the plan would not rule out a challenge but said Wednesday that the plan provides a framework the companies can work within. "The discharges that we will be complying with are equivalent to what would be required for a brand-new state-of-the-art paper mill," said Tony Lyons of the New Page mill in Rumford. But, he said, "what's really important for us is to be in an environment with certainty." The International Paper Mill in Jay, which faces a separate lawsuit over its discharges, is committed to reducing its impacts, said spokesman Bill Cohen. "I think we're pleased that the permit's been issued and we can get about the business of figuring out the sound science it will take to continue to clean up the river."
Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791 - 6324 or at:
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