In early April of 2006, Save the Waves Coalition director Will Henry traveled to Southern Chile with Proplaya founder and director Joshua Berry, in an effort to find solutions to pollution from the pulp manufacturing industry. Pulp mills have become an increasing problem in Chile with regard to their impacts on the environment, and the issue has gained international attention since a disaster in Valdivia polluted a UNESCO biosphere lagoon, which is believed to have caused the disappearance of the area’s endangered black neck swans. A new pulp mill is currently being constructed by the same company that owns the Valdivia facility, Celco, in Nueva Aldea on the Rio Itata, up river from one of Chile’s most pristine watersheds and coastlines.
Pulp manufacturing, the process of turning trees into pulp for paper, typically uses chlorine compounds to bleach the wood products to an acceptable brightness for making office paper. Mills usually employ water treatment facilities to remove the bulk of chlorine compounds from the water before it leaves the mill, but not all mills have a clean environmental record. Untreated mill effluent can have disastrous environmental consequences, including the destruction of fisheries and the contamination of drinking and irrigation water.
The mill in Nueva Aldea is opposed by many Chilean and international organizations, including Oceana, World Wildlife Fund, Accion por los Cisnes, and Accion por el Mar, who claim that Celco’s past abuses of the environment and close ties with government officials are setting the stage for future environmental disasters. Many local farmers, ranchers, and wine-growers also oppose the construction of Celco’s new facility, as do many people in the tourism industry. Surfers have already been suffering the ill health effects of surfing near Celco’s mill in Constitución, which has been nicknamed Consti-Pollution by the local surfing community.
Celco has been cited numerous times in the past for violating Chilean environmental policy. The accident in Valdivia occurred when Celco’s treatment facility failed, and the mill managers chose to continue operating, despite being fully aware of the environmental consequences. In an unprecedented act, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos forced the closure of the facility for many months, costing Celco millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Celco’s newest mill in Nueva Aldea, which will be Chile’s largest, is currently under construction and will be operational in June 2006. An initial EIR (environmental impact assessment) conducted by CONAMA, Chile’s National Commission on the Environment, recommended against Celco’s initial application to construct the mill. Soon thereafter, the EIR drafting committee at CONAMA was fired, and a newly-appointed committee approved Celco’s application.
Celco then constructed a plant that was four times as large as what was allowed under the permit. The Government of Chile, under pressure from environmental groups to act against Celco, fined the company $25,000, and allowed them to continue construction. “That fine is like pocket change for a company like Celco,” claimed Proplaya’s Joshua Berry. “They make millions of dollars in profit per week.”
“A mill of this size, pumping toxins into the water on this beautiful coastline, will effectively destroy the tourism and fishing industry for hundreds of miles,” states Save the Waves director Will Henry. “The waves on this coast are considered by many surfers to be some of the best in the world. If the mill goes in, with the current lack of environmental standards that exists in Chile, the water will certainly become too toxic to swim in or surf in.”
Mr. Berry and Mr. Henry met with many of the grass-roots environmental groups that are active in the battle to clean up the pulp industry in Chile, in an attempt to find a solution to the problem that will be economically acceptable to both government and industry, and most importantly, lay the groundwork that will lead to increased environmental protection from pulp mill pollution. They also spoke with Senator Alejandro Navarro of Chile’s Region IX, who represents the area in Chile’s National Senate.
The two organizations are currently drafting a proposal that is to be presented to the government of Chile, which will outline requirements for higher industry-wide standards and increased monitoring of pulp mill pollutants, as well as a system of enforcement and incentive that will encourage industry to reduce its environmental impact.
The proposal outlines the negative economic impacts associated with pulp mill pollution, and claims that the cost to the tourism, farming, fishing, and public health sectors far outweighs the economic benefits of one new mill. Both Save the Waves Coalition and Proplaya hope that this joint effort will both force CONAMA to enforce environmental law and will encourage compliance by the pulp manufacturing industry.
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