Two lawmakers from central and western Maine are on opposite sides of the issue.
AUGUSTA – It’s all a matter of degree – 3.6 degrees to be exact – and pounds of pollution.
A bill to improve the water quality of the Androscoggin River will go to the House with a disputed report based on a 3.6-degree difference in water temperature and how many pounds of pollution paper mills discharge into the river.
Two lawmakers from central and western Maine are on opposite sides.
Backed by the Lewiston delegation and environmentalists, Rep. Elaine Makas, D-Lewiston, says she’s tired of having the Androscoggin River dumped on. She wants higher quality water standards. “Yes, it’s a working river. But it belongs to all of us,” she said.
Rep. Tom Saviello, D-Wilton, who also serves on the Natural Resource Committee, said the standards Makas and the delegation want would do little to improve the river and trout and salmon in it, but would cost the three mills on the river and make them uncompetitive. He doesn’t want to see the mills go the way of Great Northern or Eastern Paper, saying the job losses would devastate the area.
When the bill reaches the House floor in the coming weeks, Makas pledges to fight for her minority report. Saviello and others will argue for their majority report.
At issue in the two committee reports is how much dissolved oxygen should be in the Androscoggin River during July and August. LD 1899 mandates minimum levels to protect fish. Fish need the oxygen to survive and breed. Warmer water depletes oxygen, as does algae. Discharges from paper mills prompt algae blooms, which eat up oxygen.
Fish breed in the summer and need more protection, Makas said. She, along with the Natural Resources Council of Maine and others, believe the oxygen minimum should be 6.5 parts per million even when the river warms to 75.2 degrees or ambient (existing) temperature, whichever is less.
The majority of the committee say the 6.5 part-per-million minimum is appropriate, but only up to 71.6 degrees or existing summer temperatures.
Passage of the majority report would mean the new oxygen standard wouldn’t do much for the Androscoggin in July and August “because the water’s warmer than that,” said Nick Bennett, staff scientist with the NRCM. That vote would mean fish would live, but not thrive and grow, Bennett said. Makas’ minority report would mean that fish would thrive and
grow, he said.
“The paper companies were trying to set the standard as low as possible” to avoid making changes to reduce pollution, Makas said. “We’ve been working to clean up the river. We can’t continue to improve unless they increase the amount of
dissolved oxygen.”
Saviello and fellow committee member Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, disagree. They say the difference in the water temperature would make little difference to the health of the fish, but could mean International Paper would have to spend $25 million. “That would make us uncompetitive,” Saviello said. The difference in the two reports is insignificant to improve water quality, Martin said, adding the standard the delegation wants would achieve little. The big problem is the polluted Gulf Island Pond dam, he said.
According to Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection, the water temperature in the majority report meets – but does not exceed – standards allowed by the federal Department of Environmental Protection, said Andrew Fisk, who heads the water bureau. DEP’s position on the disputed reports is that Makas’ minority report would result in healthier
fish and cleaner water, but the department would be fine with Saviello’s majority report, Fisk said. It’s up to lawmakers to set standards, Fisk said.
Environmentalist Naomi Schalit of Maine Rivers complains that the paper companies have lobbied for softer standards to save money instead of reducing pollution they dump daily into the Androscoggin, the most polluted river in Maine. In other states paper mills have invested to curb pollution, she said. “But they get by on the cheap in Maine.”
Saviello, who is also an environmental manager for IP in Jay, disagrees, saying his mill has done much to improve the river in the last decade. For instance, IP pollutes far less than what is allowed by law. IP is licensed to discharge 10,000 pounds of pollution a day into the river; it discharges 4,000 pounds a day. “I’m not going to discharge 9,999 pounds. We
work well under our license limits,” Saviello said.
Under the standard Makas is pushing for, IP could only discharge about 5,400 pounds of pollution a day in the summer, he said. That’s still more than what the mill now discharges, but Saviello said it would be too close. “I need a buffer.”
Years ago the mills used to discharge pollution “right up to the license limits,” Saviello said. When more pollution was discharged than allowed, resulting fines were “treated as a cost of doing business,” he said. That attitude has changed. “That doesn’t happen any more. It’s the wrong thing to do. We made a lot of improvements in our facility.”
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