Roger Hagan new president of Port Townsend Paper Corp. - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems Permit (NPDES)

"Hagan arrives at an interesting time, but then again, the last several years have been interesting all around. Clear challenges await him and the mill. From the mill’s perspective, increasing efficient production, building market share and making the profits that keep the doors open and 300 families directly employed are at the top of the list.

For both the mill and the surrounding community, environmental issues are also front and center.

Current attention is on the 33 acres of treatment ponds that address the mill’s ample wastewater – about 12 million gallons per day, eventually flowing into Port Townsend Bay. The ponds are responsible for most of the mill’s singular smell.

Last week, PT Paper announced it would invest $1 million to install an auto-dredging system that should, over time, dredge out the odoriferous sludge and otherwise assist in the decomposition process.

Both that project and the broader conditions of a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems Permit (NPDES) are under scrutiny, with the 54-page draft permit now open to public review until June 21.

A debate over the proper level of regulation of the mill’s 25-acre solid waste site – a huge ash pile – has gone legal with administrative and court reviews in the future.

These reviews come on the heels of a lengthy local public debate over PT Paper’s $55 million proposal to rebuild and expand the biomass-burning ability of Power Boiler 10 into a cogeneration plant (producing heat and electricity).

The burning of additional tons of biomass would have reduced the burning of petroleum as an energy source, but would have increased particulate matter and some gases. But the mill also proposed a $10 million upgrade to its air pollution scrubbing equipment that would have, according to the mill, produced a 70 percent reduction in the current level of particulates that reach the air.

While there was an environmental outcry, it appears that energy economics are primarily responsible for pushing the biomass project to the back shelf, if not into the waste bin. For economic reasons related mostly to cheap natural gas and California regulations, the number of potential customers for the exported electricity has dissipated. Of course that also delays the proposed investment in new air pollution control equipment.

Still, the mill is moving ahead with other green efforts, including a 2012 reduction of fuel oil consumption by 1.85 million gallons, with more cuts expected this year, according to PT Paper’s environmental director, Kevin Scott. And, as outgoing president Loney always reminded people, PT Paper remains one of the largest recyclers and reusers in Washington state, processing tons of old cardboard daily into new containerboard or unbleached pulp for resale, and reusing tons of wood waste as fresh wood fiber.

Regarding the profit-and-loss statement, hard information is hard to come by, as the mill’s books are no longer public. But the signs should be positive: Chip supply is cheaper, thanks to busier sawmills; weaker competing pulp mills have washed out of the market; prices for packaging are picking up across the board."

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