Spokane7
65°
August 16, 2011 in Idaho
PCBs still found in products — and river
PCBs a dangerous downside to recycling work
Doug Krapas, environmental manager at Inland Empire Paper Co., would like to see all PCBs removed from the ink of the newspapers that his company recycles in Spokane.
(Full-size photo)
Yesterday’s news becomes tomorrow’s broadsheet at Inland Empire Paper Co., where the newsprint rolling off the paper machine contains 40 percent recycled fiber content.
But there’s a dirty little downside to the recycling process. Ink from the old newspapers contains tiny amounts of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). The toxic compounds end up in the Millwood plant’s treated wastewater, which gets discharged into the Spokane River.
It’s a dilemma for Inland Empire Paper, a subsidiary of Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review. The fiber in old newspapers, phone books and office paper gets recycled up to seven times at the plant, creating newsprint sold to customers as far away as Florida. But keeping old newspaper out of landfills puts more toxins into the river. PCBs weren’t detected in the plant’s treated wastewater until after 1991, when the recycling effort began.
“We don’t generate the PCBs … they’re a product of the recycling process,” said Doug Krapas, the plant’s environmental manager.
In the late 1970s, the United States banned the manufacture of polychlorinated biphenyls, a family of chemical compounds that researchers have linked to cancer, developmental delays and behavioral problems, and other health issues in people and wildlife. Yet PCBs still show up in many U.S. products through imported components, such as inks from Indonesia that are used to print newspapers.
Imported inks and dyes can contain PCBs at concentrations up to 50 parts per million, according to standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. While that sounds like a minute amount, that far exceeds state and tribal water quality standards for the Spokane River, which are expressed as parts per quadrillion.
Last year, officials from Inland Empire Paper and two local environmental groups – the Spokane Riverkeeper and The Lands Council – sent a joint letter to the EPA, urging agency officials to ban the importation of inks and other products containing PCBs.
The EPA is in the midst of reviewing standards for use of PCBs in manufacturing allowed under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The agency’s decision is expected in 2013.
“We’re trying to get EPA to change the regulations,” said Inland Empire Paper’s Krapas. “To me, it’s a no-brainer to make ‘PCB-free’ actually PCB-free. Right now, they’re calling 50 parts per million PCB-free.”
Newspaper ink isn’t the only problem. PCBs are also found in motor oil, paints, lubricants and even some health and beauty products, including face creams and certain brands of red lipstick.
People used to think of PCBs as “legacy pollutants,” with contamination coming primarily from old waste sites, said Rick Eichstaedt, of the Spokane Riverkeeper. But PCBs are found in a surprising number of new products, which multiplies the number of ways they can end up in rivers and lakes, he said.
“Think of how many cars leak a little bit of oil,” Eichstaedt said.
The city of Spokane’s storm drains are the single largest contributor of PCBs to the Spokane River, studies indicate. City officials recently tested several brands of motor oil for PCBs. The concentrations were nearly 250,000 times greater than the Washington Department of Ecology’s water quality standard for the river, said Dale Arnold, the city’s wastewater management director.
The Spokane Tribe of Indians has even stricter PCB limits for the Spokane River. The long-lasting toxins build up in fish tissue. In recent letter, Greg Abrahamson, tribal chairman, said PCB releases must come down to nearly undetectable levels for the tribe’s members to exercise treaty rights and safely consume fish from the river.
The PCB levels in Spokane River fish have declined since the 1990s, a recent study determined. However, the reductions weren’t large enough to lift health advisories urging people to limit their meals of Spokane River fish.
Eichstaedt said federal regulations governing the use of PCBs in manufacturing don’t match water quality standards protective of human health.
“Ultimately, these chemicals end up in our wastewater plants and folks like the city of Spokane, Inland Empire Paper and others are being asked to clean them up,” Eichstaedt said. “We’ve got to stop importing them into our community.”
As part of new discharge permits limiting the amount of algae-fertilizing phosphorus released into the Spokane River, the state will require river dischargers to monitor for PCBs and participate in a regional task force to reduce PCBs and other toxins in the river.
But the approach has been controversial. Kaiser Aluminum is appealing its discharge permit, in part because the company said its compliance obligations to the regional task force are unclear. Meanwhile, the Sierra Club and Center for Environmental Law and Policy have filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue, saying the lack of immediate PCB limits in the permits violates the federal Clean Water Act.
Others applaud the collaborative approach. Mike Petersen, The Lands Council’s executive director, said he’s optimistic that an alliance of industry and environmental groups could prompt regulatory changes that would ban or reduce new sources of PCBs flowing into the river.
On a statewide level, the community already has a successful track record of collaborating to keep household phosphorus sources out of the Spokane River, Petersen said.
Keeping new sources of PCBs out of the river is a worthwhile cause, Petersen said.
“They’re harmful in such small amounts,” he said.
Miners to return to Lucky Friday 
philipgregory on August 16 at 7:01 a.m.
What on earth does this mean?
The city of Spokane’s storm drains are the single largest contributor of PCBs to the Spokane River, studies indicate. City officials recently tested several brands of motor oil for PCBs. The concentrations were nearly 250,000 times greater than the Washington Department of Ecology’s water quality standard for the river, said Dale Arnold, the city’s wastewater management director.
What concentrations? “motor oil” or “the river”….
Stupid writing.
dataxman on August 16 at 7:11 a.m.
The article states the PCB’s discharged by Inland Empire Paper comes from the recycled newsprint - not from the process of making newsprint. A useful bit of information would be if their sister company, The Spokesman Review, uses imported ink containing PCB. Then we would know if the Cowles clan are polluting the Spokane River by using cheap, contaminated imported ink…
CougarGold on August 16 at 8:14 a.m.
philipgregory - It’s 250,000 times greater concentration in the oil than what is allowed for the river.
dataxman - That is a good question, although not necessarily that impactful. I can’t remember the numbers but the recycled newsprint used by IEP comes from many points of origin and it’s a fairly small percentage that comes from the S-R. It is still a good question, however.
CougarGold on August 16 at 8:35 a.m.
From the article:
“Meanwhile, the Sierra Club and Center for Environmental Law and Policy have filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue”
What’s misleading about this is that, in reality, this is only one person; well two counting her husband, leading the effort to sue. Rachael Paschal-Osborn is CELP and is the leader for the local Sierra Club. At last week’s public hearing on the draft permit for the County’s WWTP, her husband John was the only person to testify against the draft due to its not containing specific aspects to PCB reductions. All the other interested parties representing environmental interests have signed into the collaborative task group.
Rachael has apparently chosen to go the adversarial route and not be part of a collaborative solution to this very complex issue. The Dissolved Oxygen TMDL was developed collaboratively with an Advisory Group which included the Riverkeeper, The Spokane Tribe of Indians, and others. That work has now been taken to the implementation phase and is viewed by most, not including Rachael, et. al., as a succesful effort of collaboration between the broad variety of interests.
Washington DOE has a twenty-year plan in place that will carry us forward to an even healthier river. What drives Rachael to take actions that effectively have the ability to block progress on that plan escapes me. By suing and tying the plan up in court for what would likely be several years serves no beneficial purpose to the river or our community. I would like to see her become part of the solution and not the problem. I know that she would be welcomed to participate as a recognized ‘interested party’ in the task group, should she choose to do so. Rather, she is electing to take the role of obstructionist that serves no broader purpose other than one that only she sees.
The_Seer on August 16 at 8:50 a.m.
Compromise makes a great umbrella but a horrible roof. Or something like that. I think it’s Robert Lowell.
Inland Paper has long used the Spokane river as their personal sewer. The easiest way to solve this is to force them to treat their own wastewater so their actions don’t harm anyone. That is the only legal standard that matter, right? Not doing harm? I think that is a plan everyone but the Cowles would get behind.
Historically, local government has allowed the Cowles family, who owns Inland Paper, to pollute the river at will, privatizing the profits of their operations but socializing the costs for damages.
CougarGold on August 16 at 9:03 a.m.
seer- IEP does treat their own wastewater and is part of the Advisory Group for the DO TMDL and for the Toxics Task Group, just as all the municipal dischargers are. IEP has invested many millions of dollars on not only wastewater treatment but carbon sequestering over the past few years. By newsprint producer standards, they are really very green. DOE is the group that has established a twenty year river plan that IEP is participating in. The problem with PCB’s is that they’re ubiquitous so identifying the sources is the initial step in determining an overall solution.
This isn’t about compromise, it’s about following a scientific process in a properly determined incremental plan to identify and eradicate toxics going into the river. IEP, along with the other dischargers (other than perhaps Kaiser, yet to be seen) are on board for getting to the root of the issue and solving the problem. These toxics are supposedly ‘legacy pollutants’ yet are still appearing in new products. Getting to the root source and eradicating them is a better solution but will take some time. The pollution of the river occurred over one hundred years. It’s not, in a practical way, going to be made pristine overnight.
greenlibertarian on August 16 at 10:42 a.m.
I think Dr. John Osborn, Chief of Medicine at Spokane’s VA hospital, with an impeccable environmental record. knows a little something about the “scientific process” and how to recognize IEP’s greenwashing and its toadies commenting around here.
It’s not the S/R has ever whitewashed the nefarious dealings of one of it’s corporate masters, oh no. See RPS fiasco.
greenlibertarian on August 16 at 10:45 a.m.
IEP sequestering carbon?
Ahh yes, that’s called planting and growing trees on their massive landholdings in the Inland Northwest for future harvest for timber or paper pulp.
CougarGold on August 16 at 11:01 a.m.
Greenlib - I mis-spoke; not sequestering, just outright reduction. From IEP’s website:
“TMP/Heat Recovery:
In December 2009, a new state-of-the-art Thermo-Mechanical Pulping (TMP) system was completed to replace pulping systems originally installed in the 1960’s. The TMP process produces pulp from waste wood chips collected from local sawmills. The new state-of-the-art refiner equipment includes a heat recovery system that efficiently recovers waste heat generated by the refining process. The recovered energy from this new system significantly reduced IEP’s dependence on natural gas by approximately 77% or 500 million cubic feet annually. This $50 million investment resulted in the following significant mill-wide emissions reductions due to reduction of natural gas consumption and heat recovery from the refining process:
• Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions Reduction — 75%
• Carbon Monoxide (CO) Emissions Reduction — 72%
• Total Particulate Matter (PM) Emissions Reduction — 65%
• Nitrogen Oxide (NOX) Emissions Reduction — 58%
• Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions Reduction — 45%
Due to concerns over climate change, one of this project’s most significant benefits is the reduction in IEP’s carbon footprint. The decrease in natural gas consumption with heat recovery results in a reduction in IEP’s carbon dioxide emissions in excess of 30,000 tons/year. IEP’s proactive effort equates to a significant reduction for the State of Washington in its effort to establish and carry out initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Paper Machine:
In 2001 IEP installed a modern, energy efficient paper machine that remains the newest of its kind in North America. The machine uses heat recovery and water reuse to minimize energy and water consumption. This $120 million investment also incorporates the latest technology in papermaking that allows IEP to manufacture over 30 different grades of paper and the ability to switch grades on the run at a moments notice. This flexibility creates a much broader market for IEP’s products and allows for immediate response to customer demand. Learn more about our Papermaking Process.”
http://www.iepco.com/environment_accomplishments.htm
IEP has made significant investments into their papermaking process. They also are one of the single biggest taxpayers in the County as well as providing a significant number of high-paid union jobs. About 95% (maybe more, I can’t recall specifically) of their product is shipped outside the area; they are net money importers into our community. I would think this is a company that all would view as a positive contributor to Spokane. Your vitriol is lost on me as the loss of IEP to economic pressures brought about by phantom fears would be a huge loss to Spokane.
CougarGold on August 16 at 11:07 a.m.
Greenlib - One other point: They don’t harvest timber anymore for paper production. All their feedstock is wood waste from other mills and recycled newsprint. To resolve the PCB issue, I guess another route would be to start harvesting timber again and quit using recycled newsprint for their feedstock. But wouldn’t that, in reality, be going against everything we’ve been taught in the past with regard to environmental stewardship? One issue begets another and you deal with them as they arise.
Now it’s time to deal with toxics, including PCB’s. The result will likely include changes to federal regulation regarding the use of PCB’s in products where the toxic ultimately finds its way into the waste stream. But that’s really a much bigger issue than IEP can tackle alone and will be a likely outcome of the Task Group that IEP is a willing participant.
leekinny on August 16 at 11:10 a.m.
Check it out…
Spokane Riverkeeper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YppLPq6gq_0
CougarGold on August 16 at 11:18 a.m.
Rick and Bart (the new Spokane Riverkeeper) are both on board with the new Toxics Task Group. As noted above, Rachael is currently going it alone on the threat of a lawsuit.
Here is another pretty good piece on the river:
http://vimeo.com/21053147
MrNatural on August 16 at 11:54 a.m.
“City officials recently tested several brands of motor oil for PCBs. The concentrations were nearly 250,000 times greater than the Washington Department of Ecology’s water quality standard for the river, said Dale Arnold, the city’s wastewater management director.”
?????…is this recycled or if not which brands of motor oil???
MrNatural on August 16 at 3:41 p.m.
…again I’m a bit concerned to read that brands of motor oil contains 250,000 times Ecology’s water quality standard. Which brands?…hell if we can ban phosphate detergent then by all means we should ban these brands of motor oil…
This has some very major implications…if accurate…
Spokane_Citizen on August 16 at 6:05 p.m.
Non-recycled, virgin motor oil, wides-spread, with many brands demonstrating contamination. This problem is not going to be solved by banning motor oils.
greenlibertarian on August 16 at 7:00 p.m.
CougarGold on August 16 at 11:18 a.m.
Rick and Bart (the new Spokane Riverkeeper) are both on board with the new Toxics Task Group. As noted above, Rachael is currently going it alone on the threat of a lawsuit.
Here is another pretty good piece on the river:
http://vimeo.com/21053147
Nice flick. Didn’t see much in there, however, about traditional (First Peoples’) usage of the Spokane River. And that local First Peoples traded dried salmon with Plains First Peoples for buffalo meat.
Saw much in the film about industrializing the use of the river.
And your point is regarding PCB contamination?
greenlibertarian on August 16 at 7:19 p.m.
http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/SpokaneRiver.asp
Funny how Johnson’s flick never mentions such.
greenlibertarian on August 16 at 7:42 p.m.
“Dedicated to the memory of Davie Jefferson Tucker.”
Who the hell is that? Invisible on teh Google.
Beginning to think this Kari Johnson documentary is nothing but a whitewash scam.
Spokane_Citizen on August 16 at 8:33 p.m.
Those runs are never coming back…just too many humans, too much riverine habitat destruction, water quality degradation, dams, and over-harvesting of oceanic salmonids. We can focus on the past, and its inequities (generally to promote our feelings of self-righteousness) or we can move down the path of trying to make things better. Either way, there’s no simple or inexpensive way out of these problems…..problems for which we all must share ownership.
CougarGold on August 16 at 8:38 p.m.
Greenlib - I was turned onto that Kari Johnson flick by none other than the DOE who thought it was a good piece. Also note that Bart Mihailovich, the Spokane Riverkeeper is one of the participants. It comes from fairly reputable sources. And I don’t know who Davie Jefferson Tucker is. Take it for what it is, a truncated history of the river since the arrival of settlers.
CougarGold on August 16 at 8:41 p.m.
Greenlib - As for my point about PCB contamination, I hit all that in prior posts. The flick was mentioned only as an interesting piece about the river. And Spokane Citizen is right, the damage was done and will never be returned to the state it was before but can be bettered (and has been) from the state it’s been. Responsible parties are working toward that point.
greenlibertarian on August 16 at 10:24 p.m.
DOE is NOT the ABSOLUTE protector of the river. Duh. Learn from history or be doomed.
Kari_Johnson on December 29 at 9:47 p.m.
Folks - As I’m a bit late to this forum, I’m not sure it matters, but here are my answers to your comments:
I’m the creator of the video that “GreenLibertarian” references.
Please understand that I created that video for an EWU history class. My research was limited to a quick seven week timeline - certainly not the commitment that you folks have put into lifetime of knowledge and dedication to protecting the river, which I commend.
Davie Jefferson Tucker is my father who passed away unexpectedly one week into the quarter. I dedicated the video to him as my motivation to continue to my collge education.
Kari
Kari_Johnson on December 29 at 10:10 p.m.
…which I clearly need to continue as I misspelled “college”. :-P