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45 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, January 24, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 12, 2004 Anti-emission effort yields its pros, cons By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune A significant amount of valley haze could vanish by 2007 when five Jackson County industries install improved emission control devices mandated by the federal government. "I would say you would be able to notice a difference," said John Becker, local air quality manager for the state Department of Environmental Quality. Timber Products, Kodak, Sierra Pine and Boise Corp.’s operations in north Medford and White City will fall under tougher emission rules to control the release of six toxic chemicals. These include methanol, formaldehyde, acrolein, acetaldehyde, phenol and proprionaldehyde. Becker said that a side benefit from these pollution controls, which are part of the federal Maximum Achievable Control Technology plan, will be the removal of fine particles that result in haze. He said it would be difficult to calculate how much impact the new pollution controls would have, since other sources such as cars and wood stoves also emit fine particles. Advertisement Industry leaders say the new equipment will not be cheap to install or operate, and could drive some companies out of business. "The wood-products industry is having a hard time," said David Lynch, environmental engineer at Sierra Pine, which produces medium-density fiberboard used in cabinetry, molding and desktops. "There is not a lot of money in the business." While Lynch couldn’t say how much the new rules would hurt Sierra Pine, he said installation of the equipment will be expensive, costing about $6 million to $7 million. "Then there are the operating costs, and they could be $1 million a year," he said. Lynch said the pollution requirements will hurt U.S. companies, while the same rules won’t apply to other countries. "How profitable will business be in the future when competitors across the border don’t have to comply with the same regulations?" he said. "Whether or not any local plants shut down, I suspect there will be some that do nationwide." The new technology will also create an environmental tradeoff, because the large quantities of natural gas needed to burn off the chemicals will result in more carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and oxides of nitrogen, he said. Despite his reservations, Lynch said it is difficult to weigh the needs of industry against the health of the public. "I understand everybody’s concern," he said. "I have a 6- year-old and I don’t want her to be harmed by the air we breathe." Tom Peterson, environmental engineer with the DEQ, said there are still many questions about the kind of pollution control equipment that might be installed at local facilities, or whether they will even have to be installed in all cases. "There are still a lot of questions as to how all this is going play out," he said. Local industries such as Sierra Pine are either just preparing for the new equipment, or, in the case of Boise Corp., already installing it. "Sierra Pine has no controls on their press vents and I’m anticipating that they are going to be adding some type of particulate controls," said Peterson. As part of a nationwide settlement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Boise Corp. has begun installing the thermal oxidizers that are the main component of the new pollution equipment. Joe Horn, regional environmental engineer with Boise, said one of the oxidizers has been installed at the Medford plant and the second will come on line in May. The cost will be about $1.5 million each. But he disputes whether the new units will result in any further reduction in particulate pollution, since the older equipment performed that function just as well. "Now we’re having to remove devices that we spent millions of dollars on," he said. The devices were installed in the 1980s. Horn said the new pollution equipment is designed to curtail emissions of volatile organic compounds, including the six substances under the MACT plan. Even though industry is being forced to clean up, local businesses point out that automobiles and wood stoves produce fine particles of pollution. "Traffic on roads is contributing to our problems but nobody is willing to not drive," said Lynch. Vote keeps valley’s air standards ultra-strict Clean-air advocates in Jackson County won a victory Friday when the state Environmental Quality Commission unanimously decided to continue with the toughest restrictions on industrial pollution in the nation. More than 5,000 local residents told the state Department of Environmental Quality that they didn’t want to make it any easier for industry to expand or locate in the valley if it produced five or more tons of fine particulate emissions annually. The commission, following a recommendation by DEQ staff, agreed. "They thought the public interest in air quality was wonderful," said David Collier, air quality planner with DEQ. Despite the victory, clean-air advocates say the DEQ hasn’t gone far enough in cleaning up Jackson County’s pollution problem. "We’re willing to spend two years to loosen the rules, but not two years to help clean things up," said Cond� Cox of Jacksonville, who spearheaded the local effort to head off a proposal to relax emission standards on industry. Cox said he and others want a contingency plan that will better address slash burning as well as uncontrolled emissions that are still coming from industrial sources. "I may object to this maintenance plan because of the fact the 300-pound gorilla has been sitting in the room and nobody wants to acknowledge their presence," he said. Cox, who thinks the valley’s air should be cleaner, would also like to have better disclosure from industry about pollution, and also what effect newer technology would have on curtailing that pollution. He said he would like greater investigation of grants or tax credits that would offset some of the financial hit to industry from this equipment. "I would like to try to get some progress at least in terms of disclosure," he said. "I want them (industry) to disclose how much it would cost for different kinds of alternatives to clean up." Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers