IP plan for tire burn infuriates locals

Author: Andrea Glaessner

Next Monday, Nov. 6, International Paper Company (IP) plans to begin testing the environmental effects of burning rubber for fuel at one of their mills located in Ticonderoga, N.Y., about 50 minutes southwest of Middlebury. IP accepted free tires and rubber from other corporations and plans to burn the rubber for fuel. IP's plan is to conduct a test burn starting next Monday and continuing for two weeks in an attempt to secure permits that would allow the plant to continue to burn rubber for fuel into the future.

But for the past three years, furious environmental activists and local citizens have been actively working to circulte information about the effects of tire burning on people's health and on the environment. Barbara Ernst, executive director of the Northeast Clean Air Coalition, is one of the leading environmentalists working to stop the test burn. Ernst has spent the past three years accumulating a wealth of research on IP's evidence in support of tire burning. In a phone interview, Ernst explained why IP insists on burning tires for fuel despite intense protests from local citizens.

"Tires are not designed to be burned. They are not 'free' fuel for companies [nor are they] free permits to pollute limitlessly, destroying our health, air, water and our environment." said Ernst. "[Because] tire [companies] don't want to recycle, they want to have them burned and get rid of any environmental liabilities they would have from having an old tire with their name on it hanging around in the environment. And because our EPA is ineffective at protecting the health of Americans and the environment, corporate greed is taking over and the Rubber Manufacturer's Association, lobbyists are selling these tires as free fuel - no pollution controls needed - and they are getting away with it and weakening the Clean Air & Water Act."

Ernst claims to have discovered multiple connections between IP and other profit-seeking individuals and organizations. According to Ernst, the members of IP's support group range from politicians like Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), to corporations like Green Mountain Coffee who use IP paper for their cups.

Ernst wrote to John Faraci, CEO of IP, asking him to halt plans for the tire burn. Ernst wrote, "The NYDEC, along with Region 2 EPA regulators have provided the necessary permits, allowing the plant to start burning a proposed 72 tons, 144,000 pounds, daily of TDF, tire derived fuel, and 80 cubic yards - the size of a football field cubed - of toxic sludge, at their plant in Ticonderoga, NY, without the industry standard pollution controls."

Ernst said that IP is supposed to have a full environmental impact study and the NYDEC "weaseled around it, saying [IP has] a type 2 factory which didn't need the study, which would reveal what potential harm [exists]." According to Ernst, the NYDEC also "set up a permit that's very deceptive [and does not] even test for PM 2.5 particulate (2.5 microns)" which is particulate matter that is so fine it is invisible, yet it is one of the most deadly effects of tire burning. In fact, IP's existing permit allows their emissions to double. IP was unable to comment for this article, however IP spokesperson Donna Wadsworth has confirmed in multiple local news articles that the test design is safe.

Ernst attributes many politicians' inaction to stop the test burns to personal interests and connections with the billion dollar paper corporation. According to Ernst, Senator Clinton has refused to respond to calls to speak out against IP's planned tire burn. The governor of New York, George Pataki, also declined to comment.

But Vermont politicians are not so silent on the tire burn, though they have been criticized for a lack of action. On October 26, governor Jim Douglas posted on the front page of his website a press release speaking out against IP's tire burn. In the release, Douglas explained his recent efforts to stop the IP tire burn, saying, "In an effort to open a responsible, neighborly dialogue that might render ongoing legal action unnecessary, I wrote last week to the CEO of International Paper asking him to meet with me; even offering to fly to their headquarters in Tennessee. The response I received today makes it very clear that he is not interested in such a dialogue."

According to the Burlington Free Press, Faraci wrote a letter responding to Douglas' request to engage in "neighborly dialogue" on the tire burn. In the letter, Faraci wrote, "the planned trial follows an extraordinary and detailed public review. We will abide with the health-based environmental standards required, and we will base our decisions regarding future operating plans at the mill on the scientific data obtained from this safely conducted trial."

In his press release Douglas also explained his past efforts to stop IP's plans to destroy Vermont's breathable air. Douglas wrote, "That is why I offered to work with IP and the State of New York to help finance the installation of necessary pollution controls on this plant." But, Douglas continues, "Unfortunately, from the first announcement of their plan in late 2003, IP has rejected our offers and marched forward as though they're entitled to burn tires without regard for the views of Vermonters."

Douglas has been also been involved in the protests. Last year, in a large protest against the tire burns, over 300 Vermonters boarded eight yellow school buses and headed to the Ticonderoga plant. Douglas was on board one of the buses, side by side with the protestors to protest against the paper company's test burn set to begin next Monday.

But Bill McKibben, who spoke at the Middlebury Mountain Club annual Pumpkin Tumble last Saturday evening, said that Douglas' performance has been less than satisfactory, arguing that the governor has not done enough to stop IP. In an email, McKibben wrote, it remains to be seen if Governor Douglas is really serious about stopping the tire burn. Earlier this year, when he wanted to wreck the Vermont wilderness bill that had been painstakingly fashioned over half a decade, he found just the right politicians to turn to; now, to prevent environmental disaster, he's making a big noise but not accomplishing much of anything."

Other protestors feel that big noise can actually create big waves, and politicians have the responsibility and the power to stop the tire burns. At a rally held at Middlebury Union High School this past Saturday, Marian Greenberg, Board of Directors for People for Less Pollution, commented that her organization has joined with the Vermont state government and the New England Coalition in filing a brief to support a lawsuit for injunction against the tire burning.

"We are concerned because of the prevailing winds that bring toxins across Lake Champlain and also concerned about the health of New Yorkers. The EPA is ignoring scientific knowledge. The government should be doing this for us," Greenberg said.

But, with politicians on the whole largely absent from the debate over the tire burns, with the exception of Governor Douglas, Greenberg and others at the rally have sent hundeds of letters to CEO John Feraci and to Governor Pataki.

Ernst is calling on everyone who finds IP's plans to be egregious acts of flagrant disrespect for the health of its own consumers to make their voices heard.

IP could not be reached for futher comment.