March 9, Linda Young, a spokesperson for the Clean Water Network of Florida, presented her views and a deluge of data regarding the proposed Buckeye Technologies pulp mill waste pipeline from Perry, FL to the Gulf of Mexico. The presentation at the Cedar Key Lions Club drew a crowd of more than seventy people, including a trio of Buckeye public relations people, two DEP representatives and three local elected officials. The pipeline issue involves daily delivery of fifty million gallons of pulp mill waste, with the tentative approval of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Currently the waste is dumped into the Fenholloway River without restrictions, but with the full approval of the DEP. The underlying issue appears to be a clash of economic and philosophical values of paper mill owners versus people living and working on the Gulf. The meeting attendees were a cross-section of the Cedar Key population; clammers retirees and environmentalists. 
Demonstrators before Pipeline Meeting at Lions Club.
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The pulp mill waste contains salts, tannins, various nutrients and poorly determined amounts of dioxins. The pipeline would deliver all of the components to the mouth of the river, thereby reducing the salts impact. However, the tannins will continue to damage the sea grass, and the nutrients will continue to stimulate algal blooms, some of which may be red tide blooms. Ms. Young provided a great deal of information, some of which was challenged by Michele Curtis, a spokesperson for Buckeye Technologies, the owner of two pulp mills in Perry. In summary, Young said that with or without the pipeline, pulp mill waste will continue to pollute the Gulf of Mexico. Young closed her talk saying that Buckeye has the lobbyists and the money, but voters can stop the pipeline. She added that the next Governor of Florida must face the voters on the pipeline issue. The crowd's response was uniformly hostile to the pipeline, and to Buckeye Technologies in general. Prior to the meeting a demonstration at the Lions Club entrance set the tone of the meeting. After Young's talk, Al Dinsmore, a clammer and boat captain, described the mills' air pollution and added that State employees feared that sampling water for mill waste at the outfall of the river would endanger their jobs. Gene Malinovsky, a retired Ohio State University Professor of Engineering, said that Michigan requires water from pulp mills to be fit to drink, and that it can be done. Audience member Amy Gernhardt chastised the Buckeye Technologies public relations team leader for talking during Young's presentation because it made it hard to hear Young. The audience applauded Angel Neese, a local youth who read a statement in opposition to the pipeline project. (She also unblinkingly questioned the Buckeye public relations team after the presentation.) Although the representatives of the Department of Environmental Protection did not speak, Jill Johnson, of the DEP, told Cedar Key News that Young' claim that there is no limitation on Buckeye's output of waste into the Fenholloway River is correct. Furthermore, the unlimited quantity of waste may continue for nine more years. (The pipeline proposal has been around for many years, and resulted in a three year study by experts who reported recommendations in a 1995 report.) The pipeline meeting was covered by the local press and two T-V stations. A public hearing by the Florida DEP is scheduled for July 10. However, reliable sources predict that the July hearing will be delayed until October, read a second delay until after the November elections. |
