Press Release - Governor and Attorney General Announce Next Legal Action to Halt Proposed Tire Burn

Press Release - Governor and Attorney General Announce Next Legal Action to Halt Proposed Tire Burn

Montpelier, Vt. -- Governor Jim Douglas and Attorney General William Sorrell today announced that Vermont has filed a suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit asking the Court to stop International Paper's tire burn in order to allow for a full review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and an opportunity for Vermont to make its case in federal court.

"IP is hoping that their potentially toxic test burn will be over before Vermont's petition with EPA is given the consideration it deserves and that's unacceptable to us," Governor Douglas said. "And if EPA does not act on our petition, the test could occur before we have an opportunity to argue before the Second Circuit the merits of our petition. This request to the Second Circuit is made to ensure that Vermonters will have their day in court as we seek to prevent IP from burning tires without industry standard pollution control equipment in place."

Douglas and Sorrell filed their petition with EPA on September 12 requesting that it object to the permit issued by New York DEC to allow for the burn. EPA has 60 days to act on that request. IP notified the State of New York of its intent to start the trial burn on November 6. Douglas and Sorrell said it's not appropriate for the test burn to move forward without a full review of by the EPA.

Last week Douglas and Sorrell expressed disappointment with International Paper's decision to proceed with its trial test burn before EPA's deadline to act and again pledged to pursue ‘all legal remedies' to stop the tire burn.

"My resolve to pursue all available legal remedies is firm," Douglas said. Vermont's leaders agree that International Paper should be required to install state of the art pollution control technology if it is going to burn tires for fuel at its Ticonderoga facility. Currently, the Ticonderoga paper mill does not have industry standard pollution control devices in place. "We are prepared to exhaust all available options to prevent this tire burn without appropriate safeguards in place," Douglas added. "For IP to suggest that there are no risks to this test burn is like tobacco companies suggesting there's no risk to testing cigarettes—it's just absurd."

http://www.vermont.gov/tools/whatsnew2/index.php?topic=GovPressReleases&id=2125&v=Article