[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 4, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E773-E774]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        INTRODUCTION OF THE CHLORINE ZERO DISCHARGE ACT OF 1995

                                 ______


                          HON. BILL RICHARDSON

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 4, 1995
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to introduce 
the Chlorine Zero Discharge Act of 1995. This legislation, which has 
already been cosponsored by nearly 30 Members of the House, is 
identical to H.R. 2898 which I introduced in August 1993. That 
legislation, although not enacted by the 103d Congress, garnered nearly 
60 bipartisan cosponsors.
  The Chlorine Zero Discharge Act will, if enacted, result in the 
elimination within 5 years of the use of chlorine and chlorinated 
compounds as bleaching agents in the production of pulp and paper. 
Specifically, the bill would amend the Clean Water Act to require a 
reduction to absolute zero of the discharge or release into water of 
any organochlorine compounds, byproducts, or metabolites formed as a 
result of the use of chlorine or any other chlorinated oxidizing agents 
in the pulp and paper manufacturing process.
  The use of chlorine and chlorine compounds in the pulp and paper 
industry is the second largest use of chlorine in the United States and 
Canada. Chlorine and its compounds are used as bleaching agents to 
remove residual lignins from wood pulp to make the resulting paper 
white.
  The use of chlorine as a bleaching agent in the production of pulp 
and paper results in the release of an estimated 1,000 organochlorines 
in the wastewater of pulp and paper mills. The average pulp mill in 
America releases 35 tons of toxic organochlorines each day. However, 
only 3 of the 1,000 organochlorines released are currently regulated by 
the EPA: dioxin, furan, and chloroform. Only the State of Oregon 
regulates organochlorines as a class of pollutants.
  Although dioxin is produced as a byproduct of pulp and paper 
bleaching in only very small amounts, scientific studies by the 
Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] and independent scientists have 
shown that even in minute amounts, organochlorines such as dioxin are 
persistent and bioaccumulative. This means that they remain in the 
environment for years and buildup over time reaching levels that have 
been linked to cancers and development and behavioral disorders in 
humans and death in animal and plant life. For example, although DDT 
was banned in the 1970's, trace amounts now linked to animal deaths 
still persist in the environment more than 20 years after its last 
known use in this country.
  In its recent reassessment of dioxin--ordered by then-EPA 
Administrator William Reilly in 1991--the EPA determined that even in 
the smallest amounts, this most toxic of all chemicals has significant 
health and environmental effects including severe reproductive, 
immunological, behavioral, and developmental difficulties in humans and 
animals which have been exposed to it. In fact, the EPA has identified 
dioxin as the most potent carcinogen ever evaluated by the Agency.
  A 1990 EPA analysis revealed that as many as 1 in 10 subsistence and 
sports fishing individuals could get cancer by eating fish contaminated 
by releases from certain pulp and paper mills. Additional studies have 
found that pulp and paper mill workers tend to have higher rates of 
particular forms of cancer, such as soft-tissue sarcomas and 
respiratory cancers, than the population as a whole. A 1988 EPA survey 
of 104 U.S. pulp and paper mills found bleached pulp from nearly every 
mill to contain the most dangerous forms of dioxins and furans.
  A 1992 report issued by the International Joint Commission on the 
Great Lakes Basin [IJC] concluded that ``the use of chlorine and its 
compounds should be avoided in the manufacturing process.'' A 1994 
report from the same organization reported that ``mounting evidence 
continues to reinforce concerns about the effect of persistent toxic 
substances'' including reproductive, metabolical, neurological and 
behavioral abnormalities, suppression of the immune system and 
increasing levels of breast and other cancers.
  Former IJC and Indiana Republican Party Chair Gordon Durnil has been 
even more forceful, warning ``the heart of our message is that the 
integrity of the human species will be increasingly compromised unless 
we act decisively to bring the growing problem of persistent toxic 
substances under control. We are convinced that the dangers posed to 
humans will increase with each passing generation.''
  The American Public Health Association [APHA], a nationwide 
membership association of over 30,000 health professionals, passed a 
resolution in October 1993 ``calling for measurable and progressive 
reduction toward the elimination of the use of chlorine-based bleaches 
in the paper and pulp industry and of ozone-depleting chlorinated 
organic chemicals.'' In February 1994, APHA endorsed the Chlorine Zero 
Discharge Act.
  Despite repeated claims to the contrary, alternatives to the use of 
chlorine and chlorinated compounds do exist. Totally chlorine-free 
[TCF] alternatives such as hydrogen peroxide and ozone are in use today 
in mills around the world, especially in Europe. Unfortunately, 
although these alternatives are increasingly relied upon by our 
competitors in Sweden, France, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, and Germany, 
American industry has steadfastly refused to adapt to the changing 
market conditions affecting the worldwide paper market. Only one mill 
in North America, the Louisiana-Pacific pulp mill in Samoa, CA, has 
made the switch to TCF production.
  Such intransigence in the face of changing world-wide market demands 
for white paper that does not destroy the environment and threaten 
human health could spell disaster for the American pulp and paper 
industry. Failure to begin to make the switch now to TCF production 
processes could mean that our industry, and the thousands of jobs that 
go with it, will be unprepared to meet the challenges of the future. 
The increased production and use of chlorine-free paper by our European 
competitors--now approaching 20 percent of the market in some European 
countries--is decreasing the American share of the world paper market 
and could seriously threaten the American market in the future as 
American consumers begin to demand chlorine-free paper.
  The links between the use of chlorinated compounds in a wide variety 
of applications from pesticide use to pulp and paper bleaching and 
cancers and other health effects have received widespread media 
coverage since I first introduced this bill in 1993. In the past 18 
months, stories have appeared in Time, Newsweek, National Journal, 
Scientific American, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Wall 
Street Journal, USA Today, the Atlanta Constitution, the Portland Press 
Herald and countless other newspapers from coast to coast. CNN has 
aired several reports on the use of chlorine in the pulp and paper 
industry and ABC News' Prime Time Live is currently planning a similar 
story for airing in the near future. The public is clearly getting the 
message. Now it is time for American industry to pay attention to the 
public outcry for paper production processes that do not harm the 
environment or threaten public health.
  By eliminating the use of chlorine and chlorinated compounds in the 
pulp and paper bleaching process, the Chlorine Zero Discharge Act 
provides a responsible, effective solution to the environmental and 
economic degradation of chlorine use in the pulp and paper industry. 
Federal intervention to ensure that the use of these unnecessary, 
dangerous chemicals is eliminated is necessary to protect the public 
from potential life-threatening health and environmental impacts.
  I am pleased to introduce this bill today along with the support of 
my colleagues Jerrold Nadler, Neil Abercrombie, Gary Ackerman, Howard 
Berman, David Bonior, George Brown, Anna Eshoo, Lane Evans, Eni 
Faleomavaega, Sam Farr, Bob Filner, Maurice Hinchey, Matthew Martinez, 
Jim McDermott, Cynthia McKinney, Frank Pallone, Nancy Pelosi, Carlos 
Romero-Barcelo, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Martin Sabo, Patricia Schroeder, 
Jose Serrano, Esteban Torres, Nydia Velasquez, Bruce Vento, Henry 
Waxman, Lynn Woolsey, and Sidney Yates.
  I urge the my other colleagues to join me in supporting this 
important health and environmental protection legislation.
  The full text of the bill follows:
                                H.R. --

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Chlorine Zero Discharge Act 
     of 1995''.

     SEC. 2. ZERO DISCHARGE OF TOXIC PERSISTENT AND 
                   BIOACCUMULATIVE SUBSTANCES.

       (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
       (1) substances that persist and/or bioaccumulate in the 
     environment, build to higher and higher concentration over 
     time, reaching their greatest levels in the tissues of 
     species high on the food chain, including humans;
       (2) toxic substances that persist and/or bioaccumulate in 
     the environment are biologically active in infinitesimal 
     quantities, 
     [[Page E774]]  causing reproductive failure, birth defects, 
     developmental impairment, hormonal disruption, behavioral 
     disorders, immune suppression, and cancer at low doses, and 
     mixtures of these substances may cause these effects at even 
     lower doses;
       (3) regulatory approaches that permit even limited 
     production and discharge of toxic substances that persist 
     and/or bioaccumulate result in the accumulation of these 
     substances in the environment and food chain over time and 
     subsequent damage to the health of humans and other species;
       (4) the most favored method of preventing the continued 
     contamination of the environment from persistent or 
     bioaccumulative toxic substances is to phaseout their 
     production and/or use over time and replace these substances 
     or the processes that produce them, or both, with safer 
     alternatives;
       (5) among the persistent and/or bioaccumulative toxic 
     substances of greatest concern are organochlorines discharged 
     in the production of pulp and paper as a result of the use of 
     chlorine or any other chlorinated oxidizing agents in the 
     pulp and paper manufacturing process;
       (6) the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the 
     United States and Canada concludes that ``the discharge of 
     toxic substances in toxic amounts be prohibited and the 
     discharge of any or all persistent toxic substances be 
     virtually eliminated''; and
       (7) in the Sixth Biennial Report on Great Lakes Water 
     Quality, the International Joint Commission on Great Lakes 
     Water Quality concluded that ``the concepts of virtual 
     elimination and zero discharge are consistent and a clear 
     statement or direction to take to achieve the Agreement's 
     purpose. The overall strategy or aim regarding persistent 
     toxic substances is virtual elimination, and the tactic or 
     method to be used to achieve the aim is through zero input or 
     discharge of those substances created as a result of human 
     activity.
       (b) Zero Discharge of Organochlorine Compounds, Byproducts, 
     or Metabolites.--Title III of the Federal Water Pollution 
     Control Act is amended by redesignating section 519 as 
     section 520 and by inserting the following after section 518:

     ``SEC. 519. DISCHARGE OF ORGANOCHLORINE COMPOUNDS, 
                   BYPRODUCTS, OR METABOLITES.

       ``(a) Zero Discharge.--(1) Effective 5 years after the 
     enactment of this section, each pulp and paper manufacturing 
     facility shall achieve zero discharge into water of 
     organochlorine compounds, byproducts, or metabolites 
     formulated as a result of the use of chlorine or any other 
     chlorinated oxidizing agent in the pulp and paper 
     manufacturing process.
       ``(2) Effective 5 years after enactment of this section, 
     all existing and new permits under this Act for paper and 
     pulp mills which use chlorine or any other chlorinated 
     oxidizing agent shall require compliance with the zero 
     discharge requirement set forth in paragraph (1).
       ``(b) Safe Alternatives Assistance.--Within one year after 
     the enactment of this section, the Administrator shall 
     evaluate alternatives to the use of organochlorines in the 
     manufacturing of pulp and paper, and shall publish a report 
     on the transfer of technology in the pulp and paper industry 
     from organochlorine to chlorine-free technology as a model 
     for pollution prevention. Within 18 months after the 
     enactment of this section, the Agency shall begin providing 
     technical information and support to assist permit applicants 
     in the use of alternatives to organochlorine compounds in the 
     production of pulp and paper.
       ``(c) Report to Congress on Organochlorine Zero Discharge 
     Candidates.--Within 18 months after the enactment of this 
     section, the Administrator shall complete a report to 
     Congress on nonpoint sources and industrial discharges of 
     organochlorine compounds and their byproducts and metabolites 
     into water. The report shall include a listing of all types 
     or categories of nonpoint sources and industrial 
     organochlorine discharges into water and their byproducts and 
     metabolites. The report shall also include a listing of the 
     annual quantities of each organochlorine compound discharged 
     into water nationally and by permitted facility, together 
     with a list of each permitted facility's location and 
     quantities of combined organochlorine compound discharges 
     into water. The report shall contain recommendations for 
     achieving a zero discharge policy for important categories of 
     organochlorine pollution sources. In order to develop such 
     recommendations, the Administrator shall convene an advisory 
     panel. The advisory panel shall conduct public hearings and 
     solicit public and expert comment. The panel shall consist of 
     15 members, including at least 1 independent expert in each 
     of the fields of public health, occupational health, 
     technology change, toxics use reduction, and ecology, 2 
     affected citizens, and technical and policy experts from 
     industry, labor, public interest groups, and State 
     environmental agencies.
       ``(d) Definition.--For the purposes of this section, the 
     term `zero discharge' means absolutely no output or release, 
     including nonpoint source output or release, into water. The 
     term `zero discharge' does not mean a less than detectable 
     output or release.''.
     

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