[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 125 (Thursday, September 12, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CLUSTER RULE

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                        HON. JOHN M. SPRATT, JR.

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 12, 1996

  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the EPA's proposed cluster 
rule for the American pulp and paper industry. This rule is intended to 
simplify and coordinate air and water quality standard setting.
  EPA's stated goal is to develop a long-term approach to environmental 
improvement consistent with reasonable capital expenditures. Its most 
recent proposal has two options that are to be given equal weight as a 
potential basis for best available technology. Option A calls for the 
elimination of elemental chlorine in bleaching operations by complete 
substitution of chlorine dioxide. Option B would supplement complete 
substitution with oxygen delignification.
  Technical complexity aside, EPA acknowledges that both approaches 
will reduce the level of dioxins and furans in wastewater of bleached 
papergrade kraft and soda mills below the current analytical minimum 
level. By EPA's own estimate, option B would cost industry a billion 
dollars more than option A.
  One facility where the difference between these two options is made 
abundantly clear is operated by Bowater Inc. in Catawba, SC. The 
facility employs 1,150 people and produces 2,300 tons of market pulp, 
coated paper, and newsprint per day. On a tour of this plant last year, 
I was shown how EPA's option B would require a complete overhaul and 
rearrangement of the plant's paper production processes including the 
shifting or replacement of most of their equipment. The cost such a 
shift would impose is simply unjustifiable given the existence of an 
equally safe, and cheaper, option. This option, complete substitution, 
should be adopted in the final rule.
  For 3 years, EPA and the pulp and paper industry have worked to 
identify a workable approach to the cluster rule. For the most part, 
this period of deliberation has been helpful in evaluating costs and 
benefits of various proposals. However, the uncertainty and the 
possibility of the huge costs associated with option B have made it 
difficult for plants like Bowater to plan for the future. It is time to 
for a resolution, and I call on EPA to finalize the water guidelines 
along with MACT I and III air standards by the end of the fiscal year 
with the selection of option A.

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