The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said it will hold a public hearing for a permit application to allow Georgia-Pacific to dump industrial wastewater into the Fenholloway River, once known as the state’s most polluted river.

DEP published a draft of the permit Jan. 23 to allow GP to discharge what’s called effluent, the left-behind byproduct of paper production produced during the deconstruction of a 70-year-old paper mill at Foley; the Koch Industries subsidy closed two years ago.

The plan to once again dump polluted water into the Fenholloway sparked opposition among local elected officials, business leaders, and clean water advocates. In letters, phone calls, and on social media they called for a public hearing.

A group of citizens under the banner of the Fenholloway Coalition, as well as the Taylor County Development Authority, created separate websites to circulate petitions to deny the permit. Their concerns and comments were met with silence from state regulators, they said.

“You know, issuing a draft permit without responding to public comment feels like there’s a lack of impartiality,” Robert Cate, chair of the TCDA, said Feb. 20. But later in the day, DEP spokesperson Alexandra Kuchta told the USA TODAY Network – Florida Capital Bureau that a public hearing will be scheduled in Taylor County to give the permit application a public vetting.

“Once the details are finalized, we’ll post a notice in the Florida Administrative Register and on our website,” Kuchta said in an email exchange. “DEP is committed to protecting Florida’s natural resources and ensuring compliance with the state’s environmental laws. The department will continue to evaluate all comments received and will not issue any permit unless it meets all legal requirements and is fully protective of Florida’s environment.”

Public comment on the permit application ends Monday, Feb. 23.

The waste of making paper

Here’s why, even though the paper mill closed in 2023, contaminated water is still an issue:

Years after a paper mill closes, wastewater can still accumulate on the property. The pollution left behind in the soil likely contains highly toxic oxygen-depleting pollutants, including byproducts known as dioxins formed from extracting and bleaching cellulose fiber from wood to make paper products.

Furthermore, old holding ponds and underground pipes don’t simply evaporate, they also can leak. And rainwater can soak through these areas and pick up leftover chemicals and carry them into groundwater and streams where they produce algae blooms, further reducing the water’s oxygen levels.

GP remains responsible for management of its abandoned industrial site, which is why it was required to seek a permit to change where it would discharge waste water.

A pipeline dispute

GP shocked the county two years ago when it closed the mill, creating a spike in unemployment to 6% and the loss of $9 million in state and local taxes. Now officials and residents fear further economic harm through groundwater contamination and the degradation of the Fenholloway if the company is allowed to abandon a 15-mile-long pipeline that carries effluent to the river’s mouth at the Gulf.

The company said it is committed to a “safe, environmentally responsible shutdown” of the mill and is following DEP’s regulatory process as it works to return the property to productive use.

The pipeline crosses land owned by Four Rivers Land and Timber. An easement has expired, and Four Rivers and GP have been unable to reach an agreement.

“We have negotiated with Four Rivers in good faith trying to reach a resolution that would enable the pipeline to remain, but we have not been able to reach a resolution,” Georgia Pacific’s Kelly Ferguson wrote in a letter to Taylor County. Four Rivers declined to comment about pipeline negotiations.

Regulations and failed negotiations

Reaching no agreement with Four Rivers, GP turned to DEP and submitted an application to discharge wastewater from the Foley deconstruction at U.S. Highway 27 where it crosses the Fenholloway.

Opponents, however, point out that the river rarely rises above 2.7 feet there, not enough volume to dilute to a safe level the potential amount of industrial waste the company could discharge.

The pipeline was installed in 1998 and is credited in the Fenholloway restoration to a recreational water body – safe for swimming, to consume fish, and able to support wildlife after years of being treated as the mill’s sewer.

State rules for waste water permitting lists specific requirements involving engineering, maintenance, monitoring, and volume for the discharge of water. In a Feb. 17 letter to DEP, Taylor County Commission Chairman Jaime English said not all those requirements have been met in this case.

“The (required) Antidegradation Study Public Interest Test provided by Foley Cellulose with the Permit Renewal Application is incomplete, and that progress in the permitting process should be halted until the study addresses all required elements,” English wrote.

English specifically noted the draft does not show how the discharge will be controlled when the water level is higher than 2.7 feet, the threshold for permittable discharge.

Former GP executives speak

That omission is worth considering, said Chet Thompson, a former environmental manager for Georgia Pacific who was the project manager when the pipeline was installed. He said the permit calculates GP would release up to 12 million gallons per day, but it lacks a maximum discharge limit for a 24-hour period.

Taylor County hired Thompson as a consultant to monitor GP’s efforts to dismantle the site and remediate the property for sale. At a Feb. 17 meeting, he told the Commission the site’s effluent is held in holding ponds when the river is low then released once it reaches the threshold.

“Meaning, if they have 40 million gallons stored and the river hits 2.7 feet they can ….” After a quick pause, Thompson made a swooshing sound and gestured like he flipped a switch. ”I’m not saying they intend to do that, but that’s the way the permit is written,” Thompson said.

Discharges at that level would make the Fenholloway water nearly 100% effluent, after 28 years of rehabilitation for what once was the state’s only designated “industrial river.” Ferguson said the draft permit guidelines on how much can be discharged are not to exceed seven million gallons per day, on average.

Cate worked 44 years for Georgia Pacific and spent seven years as the manager of the Foley mill. He said he had worked closely with DEP and retired on good terms with Georgia Pacific in 2011.

But the lack of information from DEP and GP since the publication of the draft permit had left him wondering about how this project was unfolding: “It almost feels like DEP is giving them a free pass. The tough questions that we would have been asked 10 years ago, 14 years ago, 17 years ago, don’t seem like they are being asked,” Cate said.

All of this will discussed at the public hearing Kuchta said DEP is working to arrange. The hearing will provide Taylor County residents “an opportunity to learn more about Georgia-Pacific’s permit renewal and provide input,” she said.

When told of DEP’s plans, Cate said he was “very grateful” there would be a public hearing.

Under the original permit schedule, DEP has until March 25, or 30 days from the close of the public comment period, to modify, approve or deny the permit.

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him X: @CallTallahassee

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Fenholloway at risk? Public hearing on mill wastewater promised