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July 11, 2005

Deep water | The unanswered question of the Androscoggin's cleanliness haunts businesses and environmentalists

By Josh And Heather Denkmire
After years of very public, national embarrassment, the state of Maine is now touting its efforts to make Edmund Muskie's river a destination once more. According to a report released in May by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the paper mills in Maine that remain along the banks of the Androscoggin River are no longer releasing dioxins (carcinogenic chemicals) into the water. The stink and the sludge are mostly gone, and locals report that the river looks and smells dramatically better than it did even 10 years ago. Tourists have been flocking here in unprecedented numbers.

However, the continued debate over the Androscoggin's troubled past ˆ— and what it means for the future of communities in western Maine ˆ— has heated up considerably in the wake of the DEP's report. On May 26, the Augusta-based Natural Resource Council of Maine filed a notice of its intent to sue Stamford, Conn.-based International Paper for what NRCM says is the company's continued pollution of the Androscoggin through its mill in Jay. According to the NRCM website, "IP's relentless pollution of the Androscoggin River makes it unfit for swimming and prevents Maine's most spectacular game fish ˆ— trout and salmon ˆ— from being able to thrive."

Though IP spokeswoman Fiona McCaul declined to comment on pending litigation, she and the company dispute that characterization, saying International Paper has been a leader in complying with ˆ— and exceeding ˆ— environmental regulations.

Regardless of which side comes out on top in the legal battle, business owners along the Androscoggin say the persistence of the debate over the river's cleanliness is problematic in and of itself. Although tourism-related usage of the river is on the rise, outfitters and others worry that continued publicity about pollution and other environmental concerns could hurt their business. Others are more sanguine, saying that the appearance of cleanliness ˆ— about which there is little debate ˆ— is enough to satisfy visitors from away.

Cathi DiCocco, owner of the Café Di Cocoa Market and Deli in Bethel, sees many visitors on their way to recreational pursuits on the Androscoggin. She believes the ongoing debate over the river's status has not had much of an effect on the area's recently renewed status as a recreational haven. "I don't think people stay away because of it," said DiCocco while dishing out fresh roasted vegetables and coffee to locals and tourists on a recent Saturday morning.

One of her customers noted that "The perception of Maine is that it is clean, and it is clean, relatively," when compared to what tourists from New York City and other urban areas use as a point of reference. The perception keeps Café Di Cocoa crowded nearly every day, according to DiCocco.

Fish gotta swim
Many locals agree the river is dramatically improved, and International Paper is quick to take credit for its part in making that happen. McCaul, communications manager for IP's mill in Jay, said in a written statement in response to questions for this story that the mill "pioneered the use of elemental chlorine-free pulp bleaching in Maine in 1996, long before it was required" by federal regulations. And the DEP's findings confirm what International Paper has been saying since the company changed its bleaching process ˆ— that dioxin discharge from the Jay mill into the Androscoggin has ceased.

McCaul lists a number of other commitments IP has made to improve water quality in the Androscoggin, including more than $4 million in capital investments planned for the next four years and a host of waste and chemical use reductions. "Over the last 10 years, the mill's hazardous waste production has dropped 84%, exceeding the state's goal of 30%," she said in the statement. "The mill also reduced the use of toxic chemicals by 49% and lowered toxic releases by 35%."

Jeff Parsons, who owns Bethel Outdoor Adventure and Campground, said the river is clean enough to support good fishing these days as well as canoeing and kayaking. Even swimming ˆ— unthinkable as recently as the 1990s ˆ— is on the menu. "The Androscoggin is Maine's undiscovered gem," said Parsons.

Patty Parsons, Jeff's wife and business partner, said the proof is in the number of fishermen at their door every day. "I'm taking fishermen out every day," she said, "and I used to just take them out just once in a while." She feels that "fish wouldn't be surviving if the river was polluted."

But where International Paper and locals see a new start for the Androscoggin, Nick Bennett sees more of the same pandering to corporate interests that led to the river's demise in the first place. Bennett, staff scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said the Androscoggin remains a threat to the species that call it home. "There isn't enough dissolved oxygen in the water," said Bennett. "Fish like trout and salmon cannot thrive." And he is sure where most of the blame lies.

"The biggest contributor to this problem is International Paper," he said. The NRCM's notice of intent to sue was a result of International Paper's recent work with state agencies and the state Legislature to renew its effluent discharge permit. "International Paper doesn't have a permit and hasn't had one for years," said Bennett.

On May 13, the DEP issued for public comment a proposed effluent discharge license for the Jay mill. NRCM submitted comments objecting to the license's terms for limiting discharge into the river. However, during the public comment period, IP ran a full-page ad in the Lewiston Sun Journal informing the public of its deal with the state for a new effluent discharge permit.

The ad reads, in part, that "Maine's Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Legislature's Natural Resources Committee recently reached a firm agreement on new license limits and a timeframe for implementing the limits. The new license will be issued in mid-June and will be effective on Sept. 1, 2005."

In NRCM's view, this meant that the DEP had completed a deal with International Paper before the DEP was to finalize the permit ˆ— and without the benefit of public comment. This was simply the last in a series of offenses, as Bennett sees it. "The DEP has done nothing about" pollution from the Jay mill, he said. "The Legislature has bent over backwards for IP."

Andrew Fisk, director of the Bureau of Land and Water Quality at the DEP, bristled at Bennett's suggestion that the DEP and IP have negotiated a new license behind closed doors. "There is no backroom deal," said Fisk. "The doors of the process have been flung wide open. There has never been a licensing process as public, as above-board and with as much civic and public involvement as this one."

When asked about the wording of the Sun Journal ad, Fisk said International Paper likely was talking about "broad concepts and a proposed schedule for implementation" ˆ— both of which, he adds, were the subject of "very public hearings" involving International Paper, the Natural Resources Committee of the state Legislature and members of the public.

An uneasy truce
Local residents ˆ— even those whose businesses depend on the river ˆ— seem to have forged an uneasy truce with the truth about the river's past. They can't shake the river's history of being a waste receptacle for paper mills, tanneries and local farms ˆ— most still remember the Androscoggin's reputation as one of America's dirtiest rivers. But caught between their own concerns and the potential boon that tourism on the Androscoggin represents, they continue to promote activities around the river that they feel are safe. DiCocco summed up the locals' plight: "My husband goes fishing all the time," she said, "but there's no way he'd ever eat the fish."

The Parsons acknowledge there are still problems. "It will never be a pristine, Class A river," said Patty, "because of the dioxins down in the mud and the mercury." Jeff Parsons believes serious attention should be paid to the river's cleanliness. He acknowledged that "asking questions about the water quality is not good for our businessˆ… because the inference is that there is something wrong with the water quality." He also said, though, that the questions need to be asked, "as long as [they're] asked in the right way, and as long as people don't pontificate about how terrible it is and how irresponsible industry is being."

Roger Whitehouse, a Rumford native who owns Riverside Realty in Mexico, tells the story of five visitors from North Carolina who worked at the Jay mill and stayed at his RV site along the river last summer and fall. "From the get-go, they were fishing in the river and eating the fish," he said. "I told them about the river, but they just looked at me and said, 'We lived down the road from a mill in North Carolina. We ate fish from the river there all the time and never got sick. If it doesn't have three eyes, we're gonna eat it.'"

Whitehouse and the Parsons are counting on this perception ˆ— that if it looks and smells clean, it must be clean ˆ— and their own faith in the industrial concerns that have been making progress on the Androscoggin over the last few decades. As the debate rages on between the state, International Paper and NRCM, small businesses are laying low and hoping for the best.

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