Champion Mill Must Stop Polluting Pigeon River
12/15/97
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Headline: Champion Mill Must Stop Polluting Pigeon River
Source: The Environment News Service
Date: 12/15/97
Copyright 1997: ENS, Inc.
WASHINGTON, DC, December 15, 1997 (ENS) - An historic agreement has been
reached to clean up and restore the Pigeon River," Vice President Al Gore
announced Friday. "This agreement gives the citizens of East Tennessee the
public health and environmental protection they deserve. After many years
of controversy, the needs of the river and the people who live in its
surrounding communities will come first," said Gore.
For the first time, there will be an enforceable schedule for cleaning up
the Pigeon River, holding Champion Paper's Canton Mill to the most
stringent pollution standards in the nation.
The Champion Paper Mill has been blamed for contamination of the Pigeon
River in Tennessee and North Carolina by dioxin and other pollutants that
may cause cancer and reproductive disorders.
Under the new plan, pollution from the mill will be cut in half from
current requirements, and special protections will be in place for
recreational uses of the river.
"The citizens who provided the leadership for this effort will be able to
monitor compliance with this agreement every step of the way, through a new
citizen's advisory committee at the Canton Mill and through a joint
watershed council being established by the States of Tennessee and North
Carolina," Gore explained.
Gore's run for the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1988 was
affected by Champion Paper's pollution of the Pigeon River. Then a U.S.
Senator from Tennessee, Gore was told to back off his pressuring of
Champion Paper to clean up the river or else he would lose the support of
the delegation from his home state. Gore backed off - temporarily.
"Throughout this long controversy," he said Friday while announcing the new
measures, "I have pushed for an approach that would bring the states, the
communities, and concerned environmental groups together to develop a plan
for the river that everyone could support. I am especially grateful to
(EPA) Administrator Carol Browner, who responded to my call last December
for the Environmental Protection Agency to assume a stronger role in
resolving this decades-old controversy. Thanks to her leadership and the
work of environmental groups and concerned citizens, the people of North
Carolina and Tennessee can look forward to cleaner environment, a healthier
economy, and continuing oversight to ensure that today's commitments are
met."
met."
[Sign by the Pigeon River]
Grassroots activists erected this sign by the
Pigeon River
Several years ago, scientists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory were
asked by the Environmental Protection Agency to study the health of fish in
the Pigeon River. "This river was contaminated with chlorine-containing
compounds called dioxins and other pollutants, primarily from a nearby
paper and pulp mill, the Champion Plant in Canton, North Carolina. Dioxins
are produced when elemental chlorine is used to bleach paper. People
downstream of the mill expressed concerns about its health effects, such as
increased cancer rates, and even filed a lawsuit, which was eventually
settled out of court," the scientists' report states.
"When we examined sunfish from the Pigeon River, we found problems with
their endocrine, reproductive, and metabolic systems. We detected altered
hormone levels, metabolic and nutritional imbalances, and changes in the
normal population and community dynamics. We also observed DNA damage and
cancerous lesions in these fish. Such effects were attributed to chemicals
released from the mill," the Oak Ridge scientists reported.
A clean Pigeon River would be an economic boon to east Tennessee, David
Jenkins of the American Canoe Association wrote in a 1996 newspaper
editorial. "Cocke County's tourism plans are largely dependent on that
river. A clean Pigeon will also offer high quality whitewater recreation to
tourists visiting the Great Smoky Mountains, including those based in
Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. A clean Pigeon will increase property values
along the river and on Douglas Lake. Cleaning up the river is also critical
to future drinking water supplies for Cocke, Sevier, Knox, and Jefferson
Counties. The status quo of serving as another state's sewer puts all of
these things in jeopardy."
Champion International's Canton Mill
Now, local residents hope their public health concerns will be eased, and
canoeing, kyack and rafting tour companies who have fought the Champion
mill can look forward to a cleaner Pigeon River.
Richard A. Bartlett is professor of history, emeritus, at Florida State
University whose book about the battle to clean up Pigeon River, "Troubled
Waters" was published in September 1995. It is about the way a great
corporation can control a whole region, Professor Bartlett said.
Bartlett's book recounts how the grassroots fight started with a retired
packaging engineer with a cottage close to the Pigeon River, Dick Mullinix.
"One day he stepped out and smelled it," Professor Bartlett told ENS. "He
knew enough about the paper business to know Champion could clean up that
river substantially. He and his wife Lucy formed a little group, the Pigeon
River Action Group. Eventually this group and several others joined to
become the Dead Pigeon River Council.
"From then on they were stubborn and wouldn't quit, but kept up pressure on
each successive administration," said Bartlett.
"An upgrade to the mill to tune of $330 million (Champion's figures) was
done in the mid-1990s, and Champion crowed about how clean the river would
be, but still the river was not cleaned up," Bartlett said. "Then in 1995,
North Carolina Light and Power made agreement to release water from the
reservoir for recreational kyackers. The American Canoe Association and
others began to scream to high heaven about smell of the river."
Even now that a new plan to clean up the river has been announced, some
local residents are not satisfied. Gay Webb runs a little store by the
Pigeon River; he is not pleased with the new plan. Calling it a sellout,
Webb wants the river to run pristine and he is not alone in his skepticism.
Recently, Champion International which has been producing paper by the
Pigeon River since 1908, has announced the Canton Mill is up for sale.