MIDDLEBURY, Vt. (AP) – A group of activists rallied over the weekend to oppose a paper company’s plan to burn tires to power its mill in upstate New York.

About 175 people turned out at Middlebury Union High School on Saturday to hear from the groups People for Less Pollution, Toxics Action and the Northeast Clean Air Coalition.

They oppose International Paper’s bid to test technology at its Ticonderoga, N.Y., plant. The company plans to begin a two-week test on Nov. 6 in which it will burn tire scraps, which IP says will reduce its fuel costs. IP has said it needs to reduce costs at Ticonderoga to protect its 655 workers there.

But opponents in Vermont, which sits just across Lake Champlain from the mill, argue that the company should install more sophisticated pollution controls at the plant even before the test burn.

The company has said it will monitor emissions from the plant during the test burn and will shut it down if they exceed acceptable levels. Part of the reason for the test burn, company officials have said, is to determine whether the pollution controls are necessary.

Vermont has asked the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to halt the test and two of the groups that sponsored the weekend rally have filed arguments with the court supporting the state.

People for Less Pollution and the Northeast Clean Air Coalition “are going to keep fighting,” said Janet Warren, who was working for the groups at the rally.

The groups also are asking companies that do business with International Paper asking them to contact IP’s executives about the test burn. They also want some of the plant’s customers to contact International Paper.