The following appears in a box on page 34 of the printed report.
Stakeholders and EPA Identify Risk Management Options for the Pulp and Paper Industry
In 1990, EPA assembled a team of experts in air and water pollution to formulate integrated rules to control water discharges and air emissions from the pulp, paper, and paperboard industry. A screening assessment of 104 mills that use chlorine as the bleaching agent for paper had found dioxins and furans in the mills’ water discharge, sludge, and pulp at levels that have the potential to harm fish and wildlife and to cause cancer and other health effects in humans.
Before deciding how best to reduce these discharges, EPA held meetings, conference calls, and a symposium to seek views and information from many stakeholders—including individual companies, an industry association, consultants, vendors, labor unions, and environmental organizations. EPA shared its data and thinking about various approaches with stakeholders before publishing proposed rules in the Federal Register. Even the preamble to the proposed limitations and standards was reviewed by stakeholders before being published. In all, five public meetings were held before the proposed rule was published in 1993 and one afterwards.
During the many discussions of control options, environmentalists pressed for a "totally chlorine-free" option to eliminate the discharge of chlorinated pollutants. EPA proposed a technology option. Industry asked EPA to consider a second option they considered more feasible. EPA assessed potential compliance costs, effluent reduction benefits, economic and environmental impacts, management practices, recovery systems, and equipment availability. The agency then proposed both technology options as well as a voluntary incentives program to encourage and reward individual mills that implement "totally chlorine-free" technologies. While not everyone is happy with the proposals, stakeholder involvement improved the development of options.