Investment in pollution controls saves jobs, improves the Androscoggin

As an economist, I have listened carefully to the “jobs versus environment” debate as it has raged once again these past weeks over cleaning up the Androscoggin River to meet Clean Water Act standards.

In my opinion, cleaning up the river will not put jobs at risk – not staying competitive within the paper industry is the real threat. We can have jobs and a clean environment.

The Verso mill in Jay provides good jobs that Maine needs, and I would like to see all of these jobs remain here in Maine. Using cleaner technologies can help. Investment in modern pollution technology can both lower manufacturing costs and improve water quality. These technologies are widely used and readily available.

I have looked at the report by paper consultant Neil McCubbin that was commissioned by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and submitted in December 2003. This report offers detailed evidence of attainable, low-cost solutions for a cleaner river.

According to that report, annual operating costs of the mills would actually be lowered by using cleaner technologies and lowered substantially under some scenarios. This would make the mill more competitive, and more likely to continue operating during market slow downs than similar mills with higher operating costs.

Yes, some investments would be necessary, but the money would be recouped quickly according to this report. We do not have to trade jobs for environmental quality.

At the Board of Environmental Protection hearing on May 3 in Auburn, a gentleman who works at one of the papermills, in the environmental department, testified to the BEP that he was the only person in this department when he started working there years ago. He went on to say that now there are four people in his department, two holding PhDs. This suggests to me that this area of cleaner technologies is growing, and bringing good jobs here as well.

Ultimately, I am risk averse. If there is a way to lower operating costs and ensure these good jobs remain, it seems, to me, to be the logical way to go. The side benefit, then, is improved water quality.

This is a win-win for everyone. Cleaner rivers increase property values and improve economic development opportunities in communities along the river.

I also heard numerous individuals testify during both public hearings about fishing for non-native fish, such as small mouth bass, in the Androscoggin River. Many individuals talked about the amazing “health” of the river’s bass fishery. What I did not hear about was fishing for trout, Atlantic salmon or other native fish that thrive in the Androscoggin above the Verso mill, but not below it.

Native, cold water fish cannot thrive in the polluted waters below the Jay mill. The Clean Water Act says that the river should be clean enough to support these native fish – and I agree. In addition, recreational fishing is valuable to Maine’s economy, and a traditional part of the Maine way of life.

When Sen. Edmund Muskie, a native of Rumford, wrote the Clean Water Act, I cannot imagine he ever envisioned his own neighborhood river – the Androscoggin – would be exempt from the standards other rivers are now required to meet. That this great river is treated as a second class waterway, and still fails to meet federal or state Clean Water Act standards, is an outrage and an embarrassment.

Let’s keep it win-win. Let’s make Maine’s paper industry competitive and make the Androscoggin River as clean as it should be. I hope the BEP will put this issue at rest once and for all and do the right thing.

Lynne Lewis, of Portland, is an environmental economics professor at Bates College. E-mail her at [email protected].