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Clean Air Act Title V Permit Renewal Raises Concerns This fall Oregon Department of Environmental Quality proposed the renewal of two permits for the Georgia Pacific pulp and paper mill in Toledo, Oregon. Toledo is a small city with a population of approximately 3700 located 7 miles from the central Oregon coast on Highway 20. Georgia Pacific currently holds a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater discharge permit and a Title V air quality permit. The anticipated renewal of the permits raised concerns among the residents of several communities in Lincoln County where the mill is located.
Community members are concerned about the emission of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from the mill and have asked TOSC to review the mill's Title V permit. The community is also concerned about possible health effects caused by mill emissions and feels that Georgia Pacific should reduce emissions and conduct ambient air monitoring, particularly for hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Community members feel these measures are warranted due to reportedly elevated cancer rates in Lincoln County and a history of complaints about health effects related to mill air emissions. The community, which has formed a group called Concerned Citizens for Clean Air, requested that TOSC present information on the Title V permit review at a community meeting before the public comment period expired so that community members would have more technical information with which to formulate their comments. The public comment period for the Title V permit closed on November 4th , 2005.
The ODEQ faces its own challenges in this situation. For the most part, when issuing a Title V permit, they must insure that the application of the regulations is within their statutory power while being fair and equitable to the permittee compared to similar entities with Title V permits. This permit does contain new regulations intended to lower the emissions of some HAPs from the mill. DEQ informed the community that the issue of health effects is not within their jurisdiction and referred community members to the Oregon Department of Human Services for assistance with specific health concerns. DEQ also informed the community that they do not have adequate funding for ambient air quality monitoring. TOSC anticipates continuing to assist the community by making presentations on health effects related to air pollution and HAPs in particular and by helping to keep the lines of communication open between all the stakeholders. For more information about this TOSC project, contact Michael Fernandez at 541-737-4023.
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