Koch Industries have mastered regulatory capture. They have financed a skillful campaign to cripple regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and choke out renewable energy development. Their astroturf army of Tea Party Republicans working to gut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is another example. You can see it in their heavy hand in scuttling state regulation of air and water quality standards for oil and coal extraction. We also see it in action in the toxic pulp and paper waste flowing from Koch's Georgia-Pacific plant into the Ouachita River near the Arkansas - Louisiana border.
I want to highlight Georgia-Pacific's actions in degrading the Ouachita River for four reasons. First, it is a perfect example of regulatory capture. Second, it illustrates the contempt for natural resource protection in this Koch-related operation, which they attempt to cover up with greenwashing. Third, the Ouachita River is an important freshwater resource for wildlife habitat and human consumption. Finally, of all the malignant enterprises associated with Charles and David Koch, the products of Georgia-Pacific are the ones you are going to encounter most frequently when shopping.
Here is a brief introduction:
The Ouachita River is a scenic and rich ecosystem. From its headwaters in the mountains of western Arkansas, the River winds east through the Ouachita National Forest through a series of lakes before turning south. Water quality remains high until it reaches the Felsenthal Dam near the Louisiana border. The segment below the dam has become increasingly impaired from discharge from several industrial sites, including the Georgia-Pacific mill in Crossett.
How does Georgia-Pacific get away with polluting the Ouachita River?
One of the quirks of the Clean Water Act is that it gives primary regulatory responsibility to states. The EPA only steps in when there is overwhelming evidence that the state has failed in its oversight responsibilities. One nasty loophole around the water quality minimum standards in the Clean Water Act is for a state to declare a body of water as having no aquatic life or human consumption use. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has used this loophole to allow Georgia-Pacific to turn Coffee Creek and Mossy Lake into a sludge disposal system. Unfortunately, the ADEQ also allows 45 million gallons of heavily polluted effluent from Coffee Creek to be discharged into the Ouachita River.
This is a Catch 22 worthy of Joseph Heller's admiration. Long before the Clean Water Act, Georgia-Pacific dumped its waste into Mossy Lake, which empties into Coffee Creek. The ADEQ has used this pollution as the basis for declaring these bodies of water as unfit for anything other than toxic waste. Presto - exemption from the Clean Water Act.
Despite pressure from local residents, the ADEQ has maintained the no aquatic life use exemption and lax discharge permit limits for the Georgia-Pacific mill. The ADEQ even rebuffed inquiries from Rodney Alexander, who represents the congressional district in Louisiana downstream from the mill. Alexander's complaint eventually forced the ADEQ to file a formal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit inspection in January, 2007. That inspection report documents the lax emission standards in the permit granted to Georgia-Pacific.
The facility does discharge processed wastewater effluent (around 40 millions gallons per day) into the Ouachita River just above the state line. The facility is authorized to discharge this effluent via the permit number above.
The keyword is "processed" as discharge of heavily contaminated water, particularly with solids, into the Ouachita River is a violation of the Clean Water Act. The exemption granted to Mossy Lake and Coffee Creek does not extend to the River, which has aquatic life, recreational, and drinking water uses. The inspection report even noted that Coffee Creek was the likely source for pollution in the river.
The effluent that was being discharged on the day of the inspection was dark brown. This effluent was consistent with the characteristics of paper mill effluent which is generally dark brown, (hence the name of the creek, Coffee Creek).
The NPDES inspection triggered a formal investigation by the EPA in December of 2007. The EPA found that the "no aquatic life use" designation was not warranted for Coffee Creek and Mossy Lake. Likewise, the culprit was clear.
The presence of indicator species [Reg 2.302(F)(3)(e)] within the Reference Site, and occasionally within the sites downstream of the outfall, supports an aquatic life use designation for Coffee Creek and Mossy Lake. Data collected in this survey indicate that the aquatic life in the Mossy Lake and Coffee Creek systems is impaired. The source of that impairment is likely the outfall from the Georgia Pacific facility in Crossett, AR.
The EPA also found high levels of toxicity in the sediment in the river below the Coffee Creek discharge point.
Two out of five water samples taken from the upstream site exhibited toxicity. Both sediment samples from this site were toxic. Water from the downstream station exhibited toxicity in the laboratory for two out of five sampling events. Again, both sediment samples were toxic.
Despite the EPA report, the ADEQ re-approved the exemption for Coffee Creek and Mossy Lake and discharge permits for the Ouachita River in November of 2010.
Complaint filed with the EPA
The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Waterkeeper Alliance filed a formal complaint with the EPA to intervene on March 16, 2011.
Washington, DC — An Arkansas paper mill owned by Koch Industries pumps out massive amounts of pollution in violation of the Clean Water Act, according an enforcement complaint filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Ouachita Riverkeeper. The outflow from the plant fouls not only local water bodies but crosses the Louisiana border, staining a designated Natural and Scenic River.
The Georgia-Pacific mill in Crossett, Arkansas, is owned by Koch Industries, which is run by the Koch brothers--conservative activists who bankroll the Tea Party and other advocacy against government regulation. Many of their main targets have been environmental rules. Their plant has created horrendous conditions, including –
-Discharging 45 million gallons per day of paper-mill waste, including ammonia and chloride, and metals such as zinc, copper, and mercury. This toxic stew combines with the town of Crossett’s sewage in Coffee Creek, the stream below the plant;
-Coffee Creek is covered with foam, scum and slime [see attached photos]. Besides the obvious impact on fish, a review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found effluent from the plant likely comes into contact with muskrat, beaver, turtles, ducks, turkey, deer as well as “other large mammals”; and
-From Coffee Creek, the effluent travels through Mossy Lake and to the Ouachita River just above the Louisiana state line. The discharge causes obnoxious color and nauseous odor conditions in the River (where it is a designated Natural and Scenic River).
Koch Industries has persuaded the State of Arkansas to issue the Georgia-Pacific mill a permit that in essence removes water quality standards for the creek, on the self-fulfilling grounds that it can never be restored to a biologically viable stream. Since the Coffee Creek pollution discharge permit contains few limits, it is almost impossible to violate--but Koch Industries has violated it nonetheless, the groups contend in their complaint.
PEER Press Release, March 16
Here is how you can make a difference
There are two things you can do to make a difference.
1. Spread the word about the PEER complaint. The press release does a great job in highlighting the role of Koch Industries in circumventing the Clean Water Act. This is particularly important given Georgia-Pacific's well-developed greenwashing campaign.
2. Do not buy Georgia-Pacific paper products.
Toilet Paper:
Angel Soft®
Quilted Northern®
Soft 'n Gentle®
Paper Towels:
Brawny®
Sparkle®
Mardi Gras®
So-Dri®
Napkins:
Brawny®
Mardi Gras®
Vanity Fair®
Zee®
Cups and Tableware:
Dixie®
I often see these brands on sale when shopping. Just remember that low price comes with a hidden cost:
And this:
And this in Florida:
Not to mention union-busting politicians like Scott Walker in WI, Rick Snyder in MI, John Kasich in OH, Tom Corbett in PA, and Rick Scott in FL.