| Georgia Pacific's Newest Contribution...Dioxin! |
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Free Dumping: No Permit Required Georgia Pacific (GP) has operated a paper mill near Palatka, FL since1947 and has continued to dump the mill’s wastewater into Rice Creek, which flows directly into the St. Johns River. Their authority to dump the discharge into the Creek is based on a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit that was valid until August 5, 2007. Since then, the company has not re-newed the permit but they continue to dump the wastewater into the Creek. So, what exactly is in that wastewater (that’s illegally dumped without a valid permit)? In the summer of 2008, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) used a new and improved sampling technique called high volume sampling to test GP’s wastewater into Rice Creek. Even though previous tests had found no traces of the chemical dioxin, the new samples revealed fish samples with a presence of dioxin levels between three and five times more than the EPA standard. This is worrisome because dioxin is a highly toxic chemical that has been known to cause cancer, birth defects, and reproductive problems. One common way it is formed is as an unintentional by-product of industrial processes (including pulp and paper mills). The chemical became infamous after forcing the entire town of Times Beach, Missouri to evacuate after toxic levels were found in the soil. The site of the town was eventually bought out by the government for $32 million and quarantined, and the contaminated soil was later incinerated. Although GP supposedly spends millions of dollars each year on pollution control equipment and other environmental improvements, it would seem that a great way to start would be to re-new that environmental permit that expired almost two years ago. With the Governor’s administration’s June 1 announcement that the dumping can continue for at least another year, they are sending a message to the state and to the company that they are supportive of the company’s illegal dumping without a permit and even their contaminating Florida waters. Beth Caudill, Intern |
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