TICONDEROGA, N.Y. (AP) – Vermont Gov. James Douglas crossed state lines with hundreds of Vermont residents Wednesday to offer solutions to International Paper’s tire-burning plan that has pitted neighboring states against each other.

Douglas said Vermont and New York officials should work together to pay for a device to mitigate the chemicals that would be released by the proposed electricity generation at the company’s Lake Champlain plant. Opponents say the practice releases toxic pollutants into the air and water.

“We are trying our best to be good neighbors,” Douglas told a public hearing run by New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Douglas earlier announced his intention to sue to stop the plan.

International Paper says it could save $1.5 million a year by burning up to 72 tons of shredded tires a day. Company officials have said cost-cutting measures are crucial to the survival of the mill, the region’s largest employer with about 700 jobs.

“In the North Country, these jobs are a truly precious commodity,” said state Sen. Betty Little of Queensbury.

International Paper spokeswoman Donna Wadsworth said of the nine company mills around the country that burn tires, this is “by far” the most opposition the company has faced.

Vermont officials say the plant should not burn any rubber until International Paper installs an $8 million electrostatic precipitator, equipment the company has at every other plant that burns tires.

International Paper said it will not install an electrostatic precipitator before the trial burn, but will install one if the burn shows it necessary.

Another public hearing earlier in the day drew local supporters of the plan. James Clark, North Country representative for Congressman John Sweeney, said Sweeney supports the plan, along with Congressman John McHugh and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“If they shut that mill down, this area will be desolate. Our property won’t be worth anything,” said Don Varmette, who worked at International Paper for 45 years. The company has been in Ticonderoga since 1925.

Douglas said his state can work with New York to help preserve jobs, just as Vermont has worked with New Hampshire on such projects in the past.

The tire-burning practice, which has risen almost 12 percent since 2001, is endorsed by state and federal environmental officials as a solution to the problem of waste tire disposal as long as emissions standards are met.

New York DEC officials issued a draft permit last month for a two-week test burn, which is subject to public comment and review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The public comment period ends Dec. 9.

Vermont has been fighting the test burn since it was proposed in 2003, but the state has no official standing. However, New York officials have promised to consider comments from Vermont residents.

A report released last summer by the Rubber Manufacturers Association said 80 percent of the 290 million scrap tires generated in 2003 went to an end-use market, compared with 11 percent in 1990. Nearly 41 percent of those were chipped and stripped of metal to make fuel.

International Paper hopes to show during the test that pollution levels will not exceed state and federal guidelines.