Public relations experts from the Buckeye Technologies, Inc. pulp mill in Perry came to Cedar Key October 22 to promote the mill's proposed waste water pipeline. They spoke to the Cedar Key Aquaculture Association (CKAA) Board of Directors and invited guests. The pipeline would be five feet in diameter and carry more than 50,000,000 gallons per day of waste water from the Perry mill to the Gulf of Mexico. The outfall of the pipeline would be forty miles north of Cedar Key's clam beds. Currently the waste water from the mill flows into the Fenholloway River at Perry. (Fifty million gallons is equivalent to waste water that would cover the entire island of Cedar Key to a depth of 3 inches, each day.) The salt content, dark color and other contaminants have caused extensive damage to the river's aquatic life. Buckeye Technologies is now requesting a permit from the state of Florida to build a pipeline that will bypass the river and empty into the estuary near the mouth of the river. Buckeye Technologies requested the meeting with the CKAA Board of Directors as an informational meeting that was not publicly announced. Mike Hodges, President of the CKAA told Cedar Key News that the Board does not have a scheduled meeting and would have to brainstorm regarding a response to Buckeye's proposed waste water disposal method. Howard Powell, a former Board member and clammer, believes that there will be no effect on Cedar Key clams more than the current discharge directly down the Fenholloway River into the Gulf. Sue Colson, a CKAA Board member and Cedar Key City Commissioner, says that it is not good practice to endorse the pipeline or to take no action. She added, "If the Department of Environmental Protection thinks it (the pipeline) is safe it needs to monitor." She suggested that monitoring should start now and go on for ten years. Just as the clammers are shut down when health is at risk, the pulp mill should be shut down whenever contaminants reach a damaging level. Michelle Curtis, a spokesperson for Buckeye Technologies told Cedar Key
News that salt content and nutrient material that depletes oxygen from water are the problems that are causing damage to the Fenholloway River. Proposed changes in the pulp processing are expected to reduce the dark color of the waste water which blocks sunlight from sea grass and causes it to die. She said that dioxin contaminants are no longer a problem because the mill no longer uses elemental chlorine to bleach pulp. Dr. Robert Livingston is an emeritus professor at Florida State University who has studied the effects of the Buckeye pulp mill on the Fenholloway River and the Gulf of Mexico from 1971 until 2004. He is the author of two books and many scientific publications on the effects of pollution on aquatic systems. Dr. Livingston, in a telephone interview, said that the dark color of the waste water has killed 28 square kilometers of sea grass at the mouth of the Fenholloway, with little change since 1971. Loss of sea grass effects fisheries production. He added that the nutrients, after depleting oxygen in the river then produce phytoplankton blooms in the Gulf. He also confirmed that the few surviving fish in the river show signs of sex changes from female to male. The CKAA Board of Directors must decide whether to respond to the construction of the waste water pipeline or avoid taking a position for or against. Two issues appear to be precipitated by the proposed pipeline: 1. Will the pipeline cause damage to the clamming industry? 2. Is it good policy to use the Gulf of Mexico as a dump for industrial waste? | 