By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – New, lower pollution limits for the Androscoggin River just issued by the state were assailed by environmentalists Thursday, who charged the new licenses are not going far enough, fast enough to clean up Maine’s dirtiest river.

“What concerns me is this is a 10-year license,” said Neil Ward of Leeds, a member of the Androscoggin River Alliance. The Clean Water Act was passed decades ago, he said. “Why should it take them 10 years to meet it?”

But Dawn Gallagher of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection said the new permits will mean a dramatically cleaner Androscoggin.

The permits issued Wednesday will result in “a lot” of paper mill discharge reduction “done very quickly,” Gallagher said. In 10 years, all of the river will be meeting its Class C standard. She’s hopeful the river will be meeting that well before then. Maine “should be proud” of agreements hammered out by the state, environmentalists and the mills, she said.

Photographs released Thursday by the Natural Resources Council of Maine illustrate why the new permits aren’t sufficient, said NRCM scientist Nick Bennett. The aerial photos were taken by DEP last summer in Jay. One photo shows clouds of suspended solids being released by International Paper’s underwater discharge pipes.

“That pollution is floating down the river as far as the eye can see,” Bennett said. “Do you think people can swim in this? This is clearly a violation of Maine law that says the rivers need to be swimmable, fishable. What’s so amazing about this, is the numeric limits in the new permit will allow this. This could happen every day under the permit.”

On the day the photo was taken, IP released 12,435 pounds of suspended solids – organic solids left over from the paper-making process such as pulp, clay and bacteria. That much discharge warms the river and makes it dirty, Bennett said. Under the permit, that could happen every day, he said.

DEP’s Andrew Fisk, director of the Bureau of Land and Water Quality, said DEP disagrees with NRCM’s analysis that the pictured discharge is illegal.

“The fact you can see the plume doesn’t mean you’ve violated fishable and swimmable standards,” Fisk said. DEP is concerned about what the photo shows. “We’ll continue to watch it and see if there is a reason for us to make a different determination.”

When asked about the photos, mill spokesman Bill Cohen said IP does not “take any one moment in time – negative or positive – to try and make it look like” that represents the big picture. “We are in compliance and have fully tested water quality,” Cohen said.

DEP officials disagreed that allowing the mill 10 more years to meet environmental standards is illegal, saying the department checked with the attorney general and Environmental Protection Agency. Meanwhile, the new licenses will mean less pollution and fewer algae blooms, Fisk said. Last summer there were no algae blooms on the river. “The trend lines are going the right way.”

Spokesmen for both the Jay and Rumford mills reacted favorably to the new permits.

Cohen called the permits “a good beginning.” IP has made a $4 million commitment to cut discharges to the river in the next two years. “Additional investment will follow.”

Tony Lyons of New Page in Rumford said the permit will require his mill to cut pollution by 30 percent immediately, and more after than. That will cost millions of dollars, he said. “These are aggressive reductions” that will cost millions, Lyons said. The 10 years allows the mill to cut pollution “and attract the capital we need.”

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