Badpuppy Gay Today

Wednesday, 18 June 1997

Because Maine residents are more environmentally conscious of what goes on in their state, according to paper industry spokespersons, the nation's toughest laws against discharges of dioxin into Maine waterways have been instituted, setting a time-table stretching between the present and December 31, 2002 when all dioxin emissions in Maine must cease.

Dioxin is a name for a particular class of compounds that is made during the bleaching of paper. It has long been suspected as a cancer-causing agent. Other complaints include birth defects, problems in pregnancy, and immune system damage. Incinerators cause more dioxin pollution than anything else, according to detection studies.

The time-table begins by pointing first to July 31, 1998 when the most toxic types of dioxin must be--inside Maine's paper mills-- at non-detectable levels.

Restrictions on the eating of fish from three Maine rivers must become a thing of the past, say Maine officials. Paper company magnates have been supportive of the measures because, as one puts it, "We (paper companies) are dealing with an environmentally conscious public here who expect more. The industry in Maine is clearly under pressure."

Even less toxic forms of dioxin must be eliminated, say the new regulations, passed June 13. Furans, a lesser form, must be made non-detectable by the year 2000.

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency's rules are now much weaker than Maine's, according to students of both state and national rules. Even so, say some environmentalists, Maine's laws do not go nearly far enough. They see Maine's rules as having bypassed an opportunity to stress more effective pollution cleanups through inventive pollution controls.

"It used to be said in politics, as Maine goes, so goes the nation," recalls John DeVillars, the EPA's New England administrator, "We ought to resurrect the slogan for approaches to dioxin regulation."

There are, reportedly, plans by the EPA to change national environmental rulings in the fall, including the pushing of tougher measures. The making of really pertinent changes has been "bogged down," according to officials, by political floor fights since 1993.

Smoke stack emissions are covered by the new Maine rulings. The state's environmental regulators will determine industry's successes reducing the amount of dioxin in the water by catching both upstream and downstream fish, comparing dioxin levels in their bodies.