(October 18, 2000) Buckeye Technologies Inc., is blocking the release of dioxin sampling data gathered by the EPA at Buckeye's Perry, Florida pulp mill more than one year ago. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requested the data be collected in order to determine the potential impact of the mill's wastewater discharge on threatened or endangered species. In August of this year, Clean Water Network submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the dioxin data that EPA collected at the Buckeye mill in May 1999 and July 1999. The EPA told the Clean Water Network, in a letter dated yesterday (October 17, 2000) that "Buckeye has asserted a claim of confidential business information (CBI) for all data except final effluent from one sampling point..."
The only effluent data that Buckeye has not objected to releasing is from samples tested using a method that can only detect dioxin at levels of 10 parts per quadrillion or higher. This detection level is too high to be useful in determining if our waters are safe. Florida and federal water quality standards say a dioxin level of 0.013ppq is as high as we can afford to go. That is nearly three orders of magnitude lower than this method can detect.
The Clean Water Network of Florida and thirteen other organizations first wrote to EPA Administrator Carol Browner in April, 2000 requesting the dioxin data. That letter was followed by a meeting in May with EPA officials to discuss the same issue. In June, EPA Assistant Administrator Chuck Fox wrote back to Clean Water Network that the data was undergoing internal quality control review and a legal determination of whether the in-plant data, considered to be confidential business information (CBI) by the company, warranted that status. Fox wrote, "we intend to expedite this process."
When no data results were forthcoming by August, the Clean Water Network again traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with top EPA officials. Verbal promises were made to expedite the release of the dioxin data. To date the requested data is still being withheld, apparently due to Buckeye's requests for confidentiality. The October 17, 2000 letter from the EPA estimates that the earliest possible date that the data could be released would be sometime in December. However, EPA's letter points out that, even then Buckeye has the opportunity to seek judicial review of EPA's determination and to enjoin the release of the information.
"Buckeye claims their effluent is dioxin free," says Linda Young, southeast regional coordinator for the Clean Water Network. "If that is true, then why are they so terrified of EPA releasing this information which was paid for by taxpayers?" Young asks.
The test results are needed for the renewal of Buckeye's permit to discharge its wastewater. Their last state permit was issued in 1990, when the Fenholloway River was still classified as an industrial river, unsuitable for fishing and swimming, the only one in the entire state. That permit, which expired in 1995, contains few pollution limits and does not meet standards that would apply today.
In 1995, Buckeye applied for a permit to build a pipeline to carry its more than 50 million gallons per day of polluted wastewater straight to the mouth of the Fenholloway River and the Gulf of Mexico. EPA objected to that permit in March of 1998. EPA's objections included concerns regarding the ability of the proposed permit to adequately address not only dioxin but also excess nutrients, lack of dissolved oxygen, the biological integrity of the estuary, and other issues. Those concerns led to the tax-payer funded sampling for dioxin and other pollutants, which Buckeye is now attempting to keep secret. But while Buckeye drags its feet the outdated permit is the only one in place.
"As a former enforcement attorney for DEP, I understand well the importance of data to an agency that is attempting to protect the environment and enforce our laws. The Fish and Wildlife Service made a legitimate request of EPA for better data on possible dioxin releases from the Buckeye mill and EPA tried to provide that data," says attorney Steve Medina, counsel for several citizen petitioners opposing Buckeye's pipeline scheme. "The Clean Water Act says the public has the right to know what is being dumped into our waters. Congress said that effluent data could never be kept secret. Give it to the agencies so they can write a safe permit. Give it to the public because they have a right to know," Medina says.
The Clean Water Network begins a long-term advertising campaign today to raise public awareness about the pulp and paper mill pollution problems plaguing the state. The goal of the campaign is to get all of the chlorine-bleaching mills in Florida modernized with in-mill process changes that will allow the nearby waters to once again be clean, fishable and swimmable. All but one of Florida's mills discharge with long-expired permits that do not meet state water quality standards.