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June 8, 1990 Classified 986-

News 985-2131

CAPILA ‘COLLEGE student | ‘Dennis ‘Creighton helps college technician Bonnie
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PAGE 25

Increased mill dioxins
alarm federal official

POISONOUS CHEMICAL COUNT UP
DESPITE CHLORINE CUTBACK

A FEDERAL environment
described as ‘‘very alarming’’

ministry official has
a report documenting

dramatic increases in the dioxin levels found in the ef-
fluent being discharged into Howe Sound by Western
Pulp Partnership’s Woodfibre pulp mill.

And Mak Ito, Environment
Canada’s director of poltution
abatement and compliance, says
he wants to know why Wood-
fibre officials never released the
information concerning the
dioxin level increase to his of-
fice, which has now launched
an investigation into the matter.

“‘We have been able to con-
firm there have been large in-
creases in the dioxin levels,"’ Ito
told the News. “‘l find it very
alarming that they (Woodfibre)
did not inform me of this."

Environment Canada only
learned of the increases in the
dioxin levels after being in-
formed of the situation by the
Save Howe Sound Society
(SHSS) environmental group,
which, in turn, learned of the
dioxin increases from a mill
employee.

fto said dioxin level tests
conducted by Woodfibre this
spring on its effluent found that
2.3.7.8 TCDD, the most
poisonous member of the diox-
in family, had increased to 30
to 40 parts per guadrillion
(pp).

Last September Woodfibre
announced that tests conducted
by the Canadian Pulp and
Paper Association had found a
90 per cent drop in the level of
dioxins being discharged into
Howe Sound from the mill,

According to the tests, the
level of dioxin 2,3,7,8 TCDD in
Woodfibre's effluent was 7.7

PQ.

“The reason why it (dioxin
level increase) is a surprise to
me is because they (Wood/ibre)
put in equipment that should
have decreased the chlorine
level,”* said Ho.

He added that an Environ-
ment Canada process engineer
is now at the mil conducting an
investigation.

But in a prepared statement
issued Thursday, Western Pulp
claimed the dioxin level in-
creases were minor.

According to the statement.
“A recent test of waste water
from the Woodfibre mill has

fuund slightly-elevated levels of
tetradioxins. This is at variance
with previous tests showing that
tetradioxins had been reduced

“We have been told
over and over again
that (Woodfibre) has
eliminated dioxins.
This is not true.”’

— SHSS president
Rozlynne Mitchell

REET NARI
to non-detectable levels at the
mill.’

The company added that it
has not been able to determine
the cause of ‘‘these clevated
readings. They are considered
unusual since the milf is using
less chlorine than ever before,
more chlorine dioxide substitu-
tion, and the upgraded
brownstock washing program is
fully operational.”’

But SHSS president Rozlynne
Mitchell criticized Woodfibre
for not making the findings of
its testing public. She also call-
ed for better government
monitoring of the pulp and
paper industry.

“Ty's along the same lines as

when the industry monitors
itself it does not work. This just
iilustrates what a _ ridiculous

system we have and it needs to
be changed,’ said Mitchell.

“We have been told over and
over again by John
Lukosevicius (Western Pulp
vice-president) that they have
eliminated dioxins. This is not
true.”*

The federal fisheries depart-
ment closed Howe Sound to
crab, shrimp and prawn
harvesting last December due to
the high dioxin levels found in
fish samples taken from Howe
Sound.