THE VICE PRESIDENT Washington December 8, 1999

Mr. John J. Barry
Mr. C.T. Howlett
Alliance for the Responsible Use of Chlorine Chemistry
1220 L Street, NW #211
Washington, DC 20005

Dear Mr. Barry and Mr. Howlett:

Thank you for your letter regarding federal government paper purchases. I appreciate hearing from you on this issue, and I regret the delay in my response.

I certainly understand your concern about this Administration's efforts to shift to reduced-chlorine paper. As you recall, we worked closely with ARCC companies, Pace International, and other concerned labor and industry groups on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) "Cluster Rules," which control air and water emissions from domestic bleached papergrade kraft mills. As a result, we were able to adopt an approach to the Cluster Rules that has broad support in industry and in the labor community.

After careful analysis by EPA, the Administration rejected the proposal by many environmentalists to require all bleached paper mills to adopt totally chlorine-free (TCF) production processes. This proposal would have had an unacceptable impact on American jobs which was not justified by the additional environmental benefits. Instead, we adopted a balanced approach endorsed by industry and labor, and coupled the regulatory requirements with voluntary incentives for the pulp and paper industry to move toward a mill of the future with minimal adverse environmental effects.

The procurement issue you raised simply reflects this commitment to additional market incentives to further the nation's progress toward a new generation of paper mill. We have already virtually eliminated the use of non-recycled copier paper in the federal government. This parallels a significant financial investment and an increase in the production of recycled fiber by the industry. We hope to accelerate the trend in the recycling fiber industry toward higher recycled-content papers produced with non-chlorine sequences. I believe that our goals to balance regulatory and voluntary incentives, which were adopted in EPA's Cluster Rules for bleached paper mills, go hand in hand with the government's preference for environmentally friendly products.

I appreciate your contribution to the decision process, and I hope that you will continue to consult with EPA as it works to develop paper procurement policies which maintain American jobs while they encourage investment in environmentally preferable technologies.

Again, thank you for your letter and your interest in this issue.

Sincerely,

Al Gore

AG/amm