HVE Fact

High Volume Extraction

The high volume extraction technique conducted at Georgia-Pacific's Palatka Operations is a fairly new sampling technique that has not been widely used and is not the standard Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved method required for testing for dioxin in our waste streams.

Georgia-Pacific does utilize EPA's approved methodology, which is specified in its NPDES permit, for sampling for dioxin in its waste streams. Those results have consistently reported non-detect since the startup of the mill's elemental chlorine free bleaching system in 2001.

Dioxin is a concern because of its potential to increase the risk of cancer in people who eat fish contaminated with the pollutant. However, Rice Creek fish studies show that dioxin concentrations in fish are well below any consumption advisory level thresholds in the U.S. In fact, dioxin levels in fish from Rice Creek continue to decrease year over year, and Georgia-Pacific expects that trend to continue. In addition, fish from Rice Creek have similar levels of dioxin to fish from other locations along the St Johns River, well outside of any possible influence from the mill.

The U.S. EPA also has reported that combustion sources such as incinerators, backyard burning and forest fires can be major contributors of dioxin, and the transport of the ash byproduct through the air to the water and incorporation into the food web may be a significant mechanism by which fish are currently exposed to dioxin.

Ten years ago, working cooperatively with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and U.S. EPA, Georgia-Pacific pledged to invest $200 million in environmentally beneficial manufacturing process upgrades to improve effluent water quality. The company implemented these upgrades two years ahead of schedule and reduced pollutants by 30 - 80% during the past ten years.

Many of the modifications undertaken by the company were above and beyond those required to meet existing effluent standards for pulp and bleaching systems contained in EPA's Cluster Rule. Georgia-Pacific implemented the best available technology in good faith to improve the environment while also meeting the desires of state and federal officials

According to the report filed by the DEP, HVE sampling results indicate that Georgia-Pacific's effluent contained concentrations of dioxin which were three to five times greater than the EPA's water quality criteria of 0.014 pg/l (picograms per liter, or parts per quadrillion).

The HVE results, which we have just received, provide Georgia-Pacific another reference point to consider as the company continues to improve its effluent quality. To address these results, Georgia-Pacific looks forward to continuing to work with the DEP and other interested members of the community on that objective.

Georgia-Pacific intends to meet with DEP to evaluate the results and decide what actions or further analysis are needed to better understand the HVE results.