EPA releases list of top sources of toxic chemicals
Pulp and paper companies made up nine of 10 of the state’s top sources of toxic chemicals and Maine was responsible for nearly 60% of toxic chemicals released by industrial facilities in New England, according to a report issued Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA reported that 88 industrial facilities reported to its Toxic Release Inventory program in 2012, noting a nearly 6% increase to approximately 11.5 million pounds of monitored chemicals released in 2012. For New England, total emissions dropped around 2.6% to approximately 19.2 million pounds. The EPA said in a press release that this was the first year the agency collected reports for hydrogen sulfide, which is used in making wood pulp. Six Maine facilities released 587,789 pounds of the chemical last year. The EPA reporting program does not include all toxic chemicals, all major pollution sources and does not require reporting on toxic chemicals that are used or that remain in products.
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The Morning Sentinel reported environmental leaders expressed concern that Maine’s industrial facilities increased their release of toxic chemicals while the region decreased. A spokeswoman for Sappi Fine Paper, whose parent company S.D. Warren Co. had the third- and eighth-highest ranking for toxic chemical release, said in a statement that the company is in compliance with the law and is required to report chemical releases, including those sent to an on-site landfill.
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