Sitka, Alaska

Water & Air Pollution from Alaska Pulp Corporation, Sitka, (Tape for a jury in Edwards v. APC)

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• published: 15 Feb 2012
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This short video showing water and air pollution caused by Alaska Pulp Corporation's (APC) mill in Sitka, Alaska was compiled for viewing by a jury in the class action lawsuit Edwards v. APC. It shows graphically the severity of the mill's pollution. The scenes were shot on VHS tape by Florian Sever in 1991 to 1993. Sitka resident Larry Edwards filed the toxic tort against the mill in 1992, over its water and air pollution. The case became a class action for waterfront property owners. The mill closed permanently in 1993, and the case was settled out of court in 1994 just before it was to go to trial. Terms of the settlement were establishment of the Sitka Alaska Permanent Charitable Trust, which was endowed with $2 million. The trust's grants are equally divided between promoting scientific education & understanding and cultural endeavors in the community. DESCRIPTIONS OF SCENES: 00:00 -- The mill's water discharge is in the middle ground, with booms containing foam. A bulk pulp carrier ship is docked at the mill's warehouse, and the mill is in the background. Voice of Florian Sever. 00:17 -- Floating material in Silver Bay, which has escaped the boom. 00:30 -- Shoreline at Bucko Point, near the outfall. 00:44 -- The outfall area and mill on another day, with close-up of black floating material, which came to be known locally as "chocolate mousse." At times this pollution caused a salmon troll fishery to be closed, several miles away. The mill consistently claimed that this was old material from the bottom of the bay, deposited in the mill's early years before it had water pollution control. It's true source is a surprise at the end of the video. 01:15 -- Wet woody material be burned in a smoky, open fire. 01:34 -- Scenes from a skiff motoring past the boom at the outfall. A heavy layer of mousse is between the booms, working its way out to the bay. 01:57 -- Close-up of foamy material that has escaped, with mousse mixed in. 02:38 -- The wake of the skiff leaving Silver Bay (mill in the background), showing the color of water in Eastern Channel about two miles from the mill. All that is missing is the distinctive smell of this polluted saltwater. 02:53 -- A bald eagle perched on a piling, above the outfall booms, with floating mousse visible. Eagles commonly fed on dead fish in the area. 03:21 -- Videos by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration of a bottom fish (copper rockfish) with an ulcerated belly, caught in a survey in Thimbleberry Bay, a few miles from the mill. Then a bucket with some of the mill's discharged glop. 03:36 -- Video taken by a NOAA diver at the bottom of Thimbleberry Bay. Suspended pollution from the mill is unmistakable. Through his full-facemask microphone the diver says, "The visibility is EXTREMELY limited." A rockfish swims off the bottom through thick suspended material. 04:32 -- A view of the mill's air pollution blowing up the canyon toward Blue Lake. The outfall is in the foreground, with the typical chocolate mousse. 05:18 -- Spilled material from the mill's DAF unit (part of the water pollution control system), similar to what is floating on the bay. 05:33 -- Heavy air pollution going up to Blue Lake. 05:49 -- Air pollution from the mill, blowing down from Thimbleberry Lake, across the highway to Thimbleberry Bay. 06:06 -- Mousse at the outfall. Many cakes of mousse floating in the bay. 06:55 -- Mousse on the beach at the head of Thimbleberry Bay. Larry Edwards collecting water samples. It is mentioned that there are no wood chips. The mill had been claiming that the mousse was old material breaking up from the bottom of the bay near the outfall, having been deposited before water pollution controls were installed. However, the old material is known to have woody material in it. 07:55 -- Black discharge from the outfall pipe, from directly above. 08:20 -- Heavy black sludge at the outfall, some of it surfacing and making ripples. 09:20 -- APC's primary clarifier tank, with foam floating on top, like in the bay. The next tank over is the secondary treatment tank, with chololate mousse floating on top. The third tank is the aeration tank, and was a source of volatile air emissions. The churning water is black, as at outfall discharge. 10:09 -- APC's private property demarcation at Bucko Point, to prevent filming of its effluent discharge. 10:49 -- A workman on the bridge over the secondary treatment tank is using a firehose to try to breakup the heavy matt of chocolate mousse floating in the tank. Much of the material is a polymer flocculant, intended to sink the pollution, for collection by a rake on the bottom of the tank. APC could not make the material sink. So instead it was floating into a gutter around the top of the tank, which discharged directly to the bay. 11:43 -- An empty clarifier tank, after the mill had closed in 1993, with thick sludge on the bottom.