A few weeks ago, there were a number of stories in the Vermont papers about plans by an International Paper pulp mill, on the New York side of Lake Champlain, to generate energy by burning tires.
This news did not please anyone in Vermont. International Paper already dumps liquid waste into the lake; the discharge pipe, in fact, extends into the middle of the lake and the slow current carries International Paper’s effluent along the Vermont shore. Many communities take their drinking water from the lake.
Now International Paper wants to burn tires and, predictably, the emissions from the smokestacks will be carried over Vermont. The newspaper articles reveal International Paper burned six tons of tires last October – they called it a test burn – but no one on the Vermont side of the lake was notified that the test was taking place. While International Paper is conducting a test burn, Vermont is doing a slow burn.
Officials at International Paper have assured Vermonters that everything is safe and six tons of burning tires is nothing to get upset about. International Paper conducts what they call a test burn, but they fail to tell environmental officials downwind from the smokestack that the test is taking place. Seems like an odd way to conduct a test.
The Secret Tire Burn of 1997 reminded many Vermonters of the Secret Waste Spill of 1990. In that incident, International Paper dumped a quarter of a million gallons of untreated effluent into Lake Champlain and, once again, never bothered to tell anyone on the Vermont side.
Now I know most of you don’t live in Vermont, but I’ll bet there’s a situation similar to this near you. What strikes me about all this is that it’s not very friendly.
Well, what has friendly got to do with it? I don’t know whether or not International Paper broke the law when it burned tires without telling the people who live downwind. International Paper has broken the law on numerous occasions and when it gets caught, it pays the fine and keeps on going. Environmental laws in this country are not a deterrent to corporate crime, they are looked on merely as a cost of doing business.
Since the law holds no power over the corporation, I’m left to observe that corporations are not very friendly. Imagine your next-door neighbor behaved like a corporation. He obeys the law, most of the time, and then just barely. He blasts his stereo every night until 11:59 p.m., one minute before he can be ticketed for disturbing the peace. Every summer Saturday morning, his lawn mower is wailing away at 8 a.m. and every evening his barbecue fills your yard with smoke. Your neighbor spends his evenings lobbying city council to reduce the noise ordinance and has sued several people on your block when he feels they have infringed on his rights. When you tried to talk to him about his behavior, all he would say is that his property taxes represent a boon to the local economy and that if his house were to fall vacant, it would bring down property values for the whole neighborhood.
I would not want to live next door to a person who behaved like that, and I don’t want to live near a corporation that behaves like that. In a world of finite resources, perhaps the one disappearing most rapidly is civility.
No one in Vermont is suggesting that International Paper shut their mill and lay off their workers. No one is suggesting that they stop making paper or making profits. What neighbors of corporations everywhere are asking is this: don’t dump on us, don’t take advantage of us, recognize you have responsibilities that go beyond the bottom line.
The Corporation Next Door
A few weeks ago, there were a number of stories in the Vermont papers about plans by an International Paper pulp mill, on the New York side of Lake Champlain, to generate energy by burning tires.
This news did not please anyone in Vermont. International Paper already dumps liquid waste into the lake; the discharge pipe, in fact, extends into the middle of the lake and the slow current carries International Paper’s effluent along the Vermont shore. Many communities take their drinking water from the lake.
Now International Paper wants to burn tires and, predictably, the emissions from the smokestacks will be carried over Vermont. The newspaper articles reveal International Paper burned six tons of tires last October – they called it a test burn – but no one on the Vermont side of the lake was notified that the test was taking place. While International Paper is conducting a test burn, Vermont is doing a slow burn.
Officials at International Paper have assured Vermonters that everything is safe and six tons of burning tires is nothing to get upset about. International Paper conducts what they call a test burn, but they fail to tell environmental officials downwind from the smokestack that the test is taking place. Seems like an odd way to conduct a test.
The Secret Tire Burn of 1997 reminded many Vermonters of the Secret Waste Spill of 1990. In that incident, International Paper dumped a quarter of a million gallons of untreated effluent into Lake Champlain and, once again, never bothered to tell anyone on the Vermont side.
Now I know most of you don’t live in Vermont, but I’ll bet there’s a situation similar to this near you. What strikes me about all this is that it’s not very friendly.
Well, what has friendly got to do with it? I don’t know whether or not International Paper broke the law when it burned tires without telling the people who live downwind. International Paper has broken the law on numerous occasions and when it gets caught, it pays the fine and keeps on going. Environmental laws in this country are not a deterrent to corporate crime, they are looked on merely as a cost of doing business.
Since the law holds no power over the corporation, I’m left to observe that corporations are not very friendly. Imagine your next-door neighbor behaved like a corporation. He obeys the law, most of the time, and then just barely. He blasts his stereo every night until 11:59 p.m., one minute before he can be ticketed for disturbing the peace. Every summer Saturday morning, his lawn mower is wailing away at 8 a.m. and every evening his barbecue fills your yard with smoke. Your neighbor spends his evenings lobbying city council to reduce the noise ordinance and has sued several people on your block when he feels they have infringed on his rights. When you tried to talk to him about his behavior, all he would say is that his property taxes represent a boon to the local economy and that if his house were to fall vacant, it would bring down property values for the whole neighborhood.
I would not want to live next door to a person who behaved like that, and I don’t want to live near a corporation that behaves like that. In a world of finite resources, perhaps the one disappearing most rapidly is civility.
No one in Vermont is suggesting that International Paper shut their mill and lay off their workers. No one is suggesting that they stop making paper or making profits. What neighbors of corporations everywhere are asking is this: don’t dump on us, don’t take advantage of us, recognize you have responsibilities that go beyond the bottom line.