Mills officials and regulators respond with:

Some admissions: “Traditionally the paper industry operated right up to the license limit. If our limit was 17,000 pounds, we operated at 16,999 pounds.” – a mill official

Some offense: “We worked hard to bring our discharge down significantly … We got the low-hanging fruit. The next 5 percent becomes very hard and very expensive to do.” – a mill official.

Some defense: “We’ve been making progress.” Cleaning the river is like “a 20-round prize fight. We’re on Round 18.” – a state environmental official

OR

Tomorrow

Mills officials and regulators respond:

• The river is much cleaner today. “We got the low-hanging fruit. The next 5 percent becomes very hard and very expensive to do,” said one mill official.

• The Department of Environmental Protection is not being soft on mills. “We’ve been making progress,” said one official. Cleaning the river is like “a 20-round prize fight. We’re on Round 18.”

• New proposed mill licenses will bring the river into compliance by 2010.