Below is a recent Newport News-Times article on Surfrider's challenge
to the terms of the proposed wastewater permit for the Georgia-Pacific
Pulp and Paper Mill in Toledo. The primary outfall for the facility is
located off Nye Beach in Newport. The Department of Environmental
Quality is (DEQ) is scheduled to issue an updated permit in the coming
weeks. Surfrider is advocating for a permit that includes a) better
monitoring program - especially of sediments and marine life near the
outfall b) smaller "mixing zone" for achieving water quality compliance
c) better public disclosure of processed waste imported from other counties
http://www.newportnewstimes.com/articles/2006/05/26/news/news10.txt
Georgia-Pacific water pollution permit challenged
By Joel Gallob Of the News-Times
The expected issuance of a renewed water pollution permit by the Oregon Departmen
t
of Environmental Quality to the Toledo Georgia-Pacific Pulp and Paper
Mill has been challenged by the Surfrider Foundation in a letter to
Oregon State Senator Charlie Ringo.
Ringo is chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. The
permit is to replace one that expired July 31, 2001, one of many DEQ
was unable to timely review due to insufficient resources.
The letter was drafted at the request of Surfrider by J. D. Brown of
the environmental law firm Cascade Advocacy Group, and it was signed by
Pete Stauffer, Oregon policy coordinator for Surfrider, and Melinda
McComb, one of several Newport volunteers working with Surfrider. It
focused on a several aspects of the permit that Surfrider argued were
illegal or improper.
The News-Times provided an extensive list of questions based on the
letter to DEQ and to G-P spokesman Tom Picciano. The issues it raised,
and the responses, are outlined below.
Ecological worries
Surfrider pointed to several ecological concerns. "Contrary to the
statements of DEQ in reviewing this permit, the outfall sites are in
the vicinity of important and critical habitat areas," they wrote. "The
Nye Beach outfall (is) located just south of the Yaquina Head
Outstanding Natural Area. Additionally, the rocky reefs and eelgrass
beds of the Yaquina estuary are located in the vicinity of the outfall
and are considered by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, to be
habitat areas of particular concern' for groundfish."
DEQ Water Quality Specialist Mark Hamlin "is not aware of any eelgrass
in near proximity to the ocean outfall. And we did not receive any
comments from National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration or the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife" on eelgrass or reef effects. Eelgrass, he added, only grows
in water with adequate light, a function of depth and clarity. In the
Northwest, its maximum depth is 22 feet, he stated. "Since the depth at
the ocean outfall is 35 feet, it is not likely there is eel grass in
that location," he wrote.
The Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural area, Hamlin continued, is 2.5
miles north of the outfall, and since the Yaquina River outfall "rarely
if ever discharges, I don't see it as a danger" to Yaquina Bay eelgrass.
The environmentalists argue, however, that the reefs are biologically
rich areas, and should be protected against the pollution. DEQ says the
outfall's "mixing zone" is intended to do that.
Mixing zone
By law, that zone must be as small as feasible, avoid overlap with
other mixing zones to the extent possible, minimize adverse effects on
local biota, not threaten public health, and minimize adverse effects
on beneficial uses around it.
A mixing zone study was done for G-P by Battelle International, which
followed and measured the dispersal of a dye added to mill effluent.
But what it found and what its findings imply are in dispute.
According to Surfrider, the test "determined that concentrated levels
of pollutants were beyond the borders of the currently defined mixing
zone.
Despite its awareness of this evidence, DEQ has taken no enforcement
action to address the exceedence of the mixing zone as set forth as a
term of the permit. Instead DEQ ... propose(s) an increase in the size
of the mixing zone."
Hamlin replied, "The study predicted the behavior of the plume after it
exits the diffuser but provided no evidence of a violation of water
quality standards. (And) the final permit will not allow an increase in
the size of the mixing zone; it may be reshaped ... but the area of the
mixing zone will not increase."
Picciano concurred, adding that "the outer limits (corners) of the
mixing zone did not change." That zone, he said, "is designed to
protect the biological community and the beneficial users (around it)."
Surfrider urged DEQ to consider mandating repair of the ocean outfall
diffusers where they are buried under sand, or extending the outfall
line past the reef and the seafloor area where sand regularly moves
(since sand has clogged parts of the diffuser). Hamlin replied, "The
diffuser was designed for a much larger effluent flow rate, and
existing diffusers operating effectively promote rapid dilution. Repair
would decrease the exit velocity, decreasing the dilution. For the same
reasons, extension of the outfall line past the reef and outside the
area of littoral sand transport would have no environmental benefit."
Hamlin declined to reply to several other Surfrider claims about the
mixing zone because of an ongoing legal debate over mixing zones and
DEQ's implementation of the laws governing them.
Geologist Roger Hart, though, said that when the currents are right,
they act with the reefs to keep a "plume" of polluted water undispersed.
That mass of dark water can occasionally be seen from Don Davis Park.
But, Hamlin has earlier stated, "We have a good idea where the plume
is, and there is no sediment deposition there." He said if the plume
pollutants are not being deposited, they must be dispersing
successfully.
Unwanted deposits
State law requires the outfall not create any "objectionable deposit."
The Surfrider letter argued the mill releases "in excess of 7,000,000
pounds of industrial waste annually at the Nye Beach outfall." That
figure, replied Hamlin, "was a public comment we received, but we have
no information on the basis of that figure." DEQ, Surfrider asserted,
"has made no inquiry into whether the outfall is producing
objectionable deposits as a result of the discharge. Instead, DEQ
proposes to draw conclusions regarding potential sediment deposition
through comparisons to the outfall from a plant in Alaska."
The question of objectionable deposits arose in 1995, Hamlin reported,
and thereafter DEQ required G-P "to make annual dives to record the
impacts of deposits at the outfall. We have videotape of those dives
and see no indication of objectionable deposits. Based on those dives,
the new permit will require two dives over the five-year life of the
permit."
According to Picciano, "the mills treated effluent does not settle into deposits at the outfall discharge."
Water quality
G-P itself refers to "black liquor" and "green liquor" as mixtures
produced by the mill process, Surfrider noted. Further, there are
several reports of a "dark brown plume emanating from the Nye Beech
outfall that covers an area as large as 1,000 by 200 meters," the
letter stated. Yet DEQ has not included any color standards or
turbidity standards in the permit.
Hamlin replied that the frequency and impermanence of the colored plume
"make it difficult to measure," as does the absence of any standards
for color. Further, he wrote, the terms black and green, when referring
to the liquor, do not relate to the color of the liquor, but
distinguish two different processes that produce them. "In general, the
green liquor is what's left of the black liquor after combustion in the
recovery boiler, and it is returned to the pulping process to be used
as a caustic in the digester. Neither is discharged."
But, argues Surfrider, state law requires DEQ mandate "the highest and
best practicable treatment necessary to maintain the color of the
mill's effluent at the lowest possible level," yet DEQ proposes no such
mandate.
Compliance, replied Hamlin, "is typically determined based on
compliance with other specific limitations." In the permit, he stated,
there are other limitations on G-P's wastewater - for biological oxygen
demand, total suspended solids and pH, and G-P meets those standards.
Thus, Hamlin stated, G-P is meeting the highest and best practicable
color management mandate.
Bacteria
DEQ, the letter writers assert, applied a less restrictive standard for
limiting outfall bacteria levels than it might otherwise have, "based
on its conclusion the outfall area waters represent 'infrequent use
coastal recreation waters.'" With the large numbers of residents and
visitors at Newport beaches, this did not sit well with Surfrider.
But with the outfall 4,000 feet out, DEQ said there is sufficient
distance from the beach where people wade and swim to justify that
conclusion. Surfrider - whose membership includes many surfers who go
further out - did not find that sufficiently protective.
Surfrider has done bacterial studies at Nye Beach and found them among
the highest on the Oregon coast. Further, they wrote, Surfrider
regularly gets complaints about ear infections, burning eyes and
digestive tract illnesses resulting from ocean related activities.
DEQ has also done bacteria monitoring, noted Hamlin, and "some analytical results exceed the standard," he wrote.
Yet, Surfrider wrote, "DEQ states it is unable to draw any conclusions
about bacteria levels," and that it "will renew the permit and
determine later whether there is a cause for concern." They found that
"unsatisfactory."
The permit, Hamlin promised, "will contain a compliance schedule to determine the source of the bacteria."
Joel Gallob is a reporter for the News-Times. He can be reached at 265-8571, ext. 223