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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Oct. 29, 1999
99-223
Contact: Mark Dirkx, Industrial Section, 360-407-6937
OLYMPIA - Air and water pollution from the Georgia-Pacific pulp mill in Bellingham will decrease in the future, thanks to changes being made in the facility's processing systems.
The state Department of Ecology (Ecology) has approved Georgia-Pacific's request to construct a new "oxygen delignification" system for washing the resin from wood fiber. A new fresh-water scrubber will be added to the system to remove pollutants from vapors and gasses that eventually are released to the air.
The facility will also modify its bleach-plant system, converting to an elemental chlorine-free process. The new chlorine-dioxide bleaching process will reduce the amount of chemicals discharged into Bellingham Bay. The upgrades are expected to reduce toxins in the plant's waste water by 75 percent.
The new delignification system and bleach-plant modifications are expected to reduce air pollution emissions by more than 96 percent.
"The improvements at Georgia-Pacific will benefit the environment and the entire community around Bellingham Bay," said Carol Kraege, an industrial-permits manager for Ecology. "This project shows that industrial processes can be made cleaner without destroying the economic asset that Georgia-Pacific represents."
Kraege said the company will no longer produce chlorine in downtown Bellingham, which will greatly reduce the risk of a harmful chlorine release.
Additional changes at the Bellingham facility include demolishing the mercury-producing chlor-alkili plant. The demolition and the new system changes will significantly reduce Georgia-Pacific's discharges of mercury and dioxins into the bay.
Plant officials estimate the project will be completed by December 2000.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
