LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2007 (Forestweb) — The Northwest Pulp and Paper Assn., which represents five Oregon mills affected by new temperature regulations for wastewater, filed suit Mar. 16 over the regulations, against the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the Albany Democrat-Herald reported Mar. 30.
The nonprofit association's member mills in Oregon affected by the new regulations include Weyerhaeuser Co. in Millersburg, Newberg and Springfield; Georgia-Pacific Corp. in Halsey; and Pope & Talbot Inc. in Halsey. Weyerhaeuser has its headquarters in Federal Way, Wash., Georgia-Pacific in Atlanta, and Pope & Talbot in Portland.
The DEQ is attempting to control the temperature of the Willamette River to protect salmon habitat and issued the new regulations in September. The mills are all subject to wastewater regulations because they discharge into the Willamette or its tributaries.
The pulp association’s claim alleges that DEQ's new regulations broke state laws in several ways. They claim the rules forced the mills to manage the temperature of water for which they are not responsible and required temperature monitoring to a hundredth of a degree Celsius.
The claim also alleges that the new regulations ignore the effect of dams on the river’s temperature and do not account for natural temperature changes in river water during the spring and fall.
Gene Foster, DEQ's watershed management official, defended the regulations, and said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the new regulations after DEQ signed them in September 2006.
The state of Oregon, Metropolitan Wastewater Management and the Eugene Water and Electric Board have also filed claims in Lane County Circuit Court.
Foster said the new Willamette River regulations affect the whole watershed and are the largest and most complex regulation process his division has undertaken.
The primary source of this article is the Albany Democrat-Herald, Albany, Ore., on Mar. 30, 2007
Boringfish: wait a min, Newberg is not part of WY! That's SP newsprint!
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