LEWISTON – The Androscoggin River will meet Class C, or minimum, water-quality standards by June 2010, a state official said Wednesday.

Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Dawn Gallagher made the promise to a crowd of about 80 packed into the Lewiston City Council chambers.

The people at the hearing had come to give public comment before the agency writes new regulations mandating how much pollution the river can stand. New licenses will divide up the amount of pollution that each discharger will be allowed, while meeting the federal Clean Water Act. That regulation says every water body is to be fishable and swimmable, something the Androscoggin is not.

Andrew Fisk, who heads DEP’s Land and Water Quality Bureau, stressed that its license writing “is not just a conversation between DEP and people who hold those licenses.” The river does not meet standards, “and it should,” Fisk said.

At Wednesday’s meeting, paper mill workers worried about losing their jobs and residents who want a cleaner river both showed up to ask DEP to do the right thing, but they did not always agree on what was right.

Mill workers asked the state to go slow in writing new pollution limits for the mills. One worker said she wants a clean river, “but I want a mill to work in.”

Members of the newly formed Androscoggin River Alliance responded that progress has been too slow, it’s been years since the Androscoggin should have met the lowest water quality standards.

“The mills need to clean up their act,” said alliance leader Gregory D’Augustine of Greene. “It doesn’t have to be paychecks or pickerel. It can be both.”

Fisk said while great improvements have been made, algae blooms in Gulf Island Pond and insufficient oxygen in the river – along with too many particulates – all exist, which choke and erode water quality. State data shows the biggest polluters are the paper mills.

Pam Puiia of Hanover, a member of the Pulp and Paper Worker Resource Council, said that only a small portion of Gulf Island Pond does not meet standards for a small part of the year. “You could shut down all the paper mills” but the pond would still be polluted, she said, complaining that the paper mills are the unfair “targets.”

Larry Barron of Durham, a former mill worker who lives on the river, said he’s “amazed” at improvements in the Androscoggin. He’s seen eagles, people canoeing, “and kids swimming. … The only reason it isn’t swimmable is because of the (municipal) sewer water. I’m not saying it’s pristine, but it ain’t bad.”

Mill worker Scott Grassette of Rumford said that when he canoes, he has noticed real estate agents’ “for sale” signs. “You wouldn’t see that 20 years ago,” Grassette said. He added that the Mead mill has spent millions on improvements, and asked DEP to go slow so that new licenses don’t “jeopardize our jobs.”

Others disagreed.

Tom Labrie, who said he lives on the banks of Gulf Island Pond, said “baby steps” are not acceptable. If sewage from a neighbor’s property came across your land, few would be satisfied with that neighbor saying he’s spent $10,000 “to fix the problem he created,” but the problem’s not fixed. That’s what the mills are doing, he said.

“The paper people” need to understand and take advantage of a national “green movement,” Labrie said, adding that there is economic potential for mills that produce environmentally friendly paper.

Androscoggin River Alliance member Charles Carroll of Topsham said he lives on the river, and when the flow is high, “I’ve see foam, 12 to 18 inches high. I smell sewage. I see sewage.” He and his family have tried swimming in the river, but ended up in the hospital, Carroll said.

Whenever someone asks for better pollution laws, “The mills scream jobs, jobs, jobs,” Carroll said. Paper mills that invest in improved technology are the ones that stay, he said. Mill workers are right to be concerned about losing jobs, he said, “but it doesn’t have to do with cleaning up the river.”

DEP plans to have new pollution licenses proposed by April, and final licenses issued by June, Fisk said. The licenses would be good for five years.