Saturday, May 22, 2010

Panel relaxes pollution requirement for Fenholloway River


View Larger MapThe state Environmental Regulation Commission on Thursday approved a rule allowing the Buckeye Florida pulp mill near Perry to discharge a darker wastewater than previously had been allowed.

The mill, built in 1954, is the largest employer in Taylor County with more than 500 workers. Buckeye also has been the target of environmentalists and their disputes with regulatory agencies because of the mill's historic pollution of the Fenholloway River. Buckeye has proposed building a 15-mile pipeline from the plant to near the mouth of the Fenholloway at the Gulf of Mexico to discharge 41 million gallons per day of treated wastewater.

The dark brown discharge was blamed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection during the 1990s for killing 10 square miles of sea grass in the Gulf. But DEP now says sea grasses have grown back as the company has reduced the darkness of the discharge by half since the early 1990s. The company has spent more than $90 million on plant upgrades to reduce pollution, said Ray Andreu, the plant's manager of environmental and regulatory affairs. He said there is no technology available to further reduce the color of the discharge.

But the Clean Water Network of Florida opposed the rule change, pointing to other pulp mills that have further reduced their color. Linda Young, the group's director, said the proposed pipeline permit would allow the continued pollution of the river and Gulf. But she was cut off by ERC Chairman Don Ross, who said the panel wasn't considering the proposed permit that would allow the pipeline.

"We expected it," Young said after the meeting. "There shouldn't be blatant disregard for what the public brings to this discussion."

(Story provided by The Florida Tribune. Story and photo copyrighted by Bruce Ritchie and FloridaEnvironments.com. Do not copy or redistribute without permission, which can be obtained by contacting brucebritchie@gmail.com.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another disgusting, irresponsible ruling by yet another agency charged with protecting our waters. Who needs BP to destroy our most valuable asset of a vibrant marine environment when we have our own in-state destroyers? Between this ruling body and the federal agencies, we can expect more coal mine disasters and oil spill catastrophes.

Anonymous said...

This is simply 'Corporate America' once again flexing its ugly ways. This country and its once valid lawmakers died a long time ago, right after we threw God out ofthe country along with our morals. I live in southern Ohio and watched this very thing happen to Paint Creek, in Ross County, as a Paper Mill there killed the once prestine stream and everything around it in a 20 mile path. Very, very sad.