ARCC to Support EPA's "Cluster Rule" Decision on Pulp and Paper

At the July ARCC meeting, pulp and paper union and company reps informed the Alliance that some environmental groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its recent Cluster Rule decision. ARCC reps agreed to work in support of EPA's Cluster Rule.

As reported previously in ARCC News, EPA recently ruled that U.S. bleached kraft and soda process paper mills must substitute chlorine dioxide for elemental chlorine in the pulp and paper process. According to EPA, this substitution will reduce dioxin emissions from U.S. paper mills to the undetectable level. In addition, it will allow industry to achieve this major environmental milestone quickly and at the lowest possible cost in terms of jobs and plant closures.

The alternative proposal rejected by EPA (but favored by some environmental organizations) would have cost the U.S. industry billions more dollars and caused the loss of thousands of good jobs - for a potential further emissions reduction of .1 percent (that's right: point-one percent). The alternative would have forced a number of U.S. bleached kraft and soda plants to close down, putting thousands of people out of work.

Given the fact that pulp and paper demand is rising, Americans would have had no choice but to buy more imported paper made in countries which have not made this environmentally-friendly shift. The U.S. industry provides good, high-paying jobs. With EPA's new ruling that switches the industry to chlorine dioxide, a major environmental milestone has been achieved with a minimum of disruption to industry, employees and communities. Attacks on responsible, environmentally sound regulations - all because the regulations allow the use of chlorine dioxide - present a chilling scenario to the U.S. workers and communities dependent on pulp and paper.