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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!daemon
- From: Christic Institute <christic@igc.apc.org>
- Subject: Paper Industry Attacks U.S. Govt
- Message-ID: <1992Sep9.223444.23063@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: ?
- Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 22:34:44 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 57
-
- /* Written 1:39 am Sep 9, 1992 by econet in cdp:en.alerts */
- /* ---------- "Paper Industry Attacks U.S. Govt" ---------- */
- The U.S. paper industry's refusal to halt the use of chlorine in paper
- production has extended to possibly illegal inteference in federal
- purchasing activities.
-
- Current methods of paper production exact a demanding price on our
- environment and public health. The chlorine bleaching process creates as
- many as 1,000 organochlorines, many of which, including dioxin, are known
- carcinogens and mutagens. While European companies switch to
- alternatives -- hydrogen peroxide, oxygen, ozone -- the U.S. paper
- industry refuses to change to safer methods.
-
- The federal government, the nation's largest consumer of paper, has the
- purchasing power to make the paper industry change. But there are
- serious obstacles to using this power.
-
- In June 1992, the General Services Administration (GSA), the federal
- buying arm, sent a survey to U.S. paper mills, inquiring about their
- capacity to produce non-chlorine bleached printing and writing papers.
- The American Paper Institute (API), the industry's lobby, sought to
- prevent its membership from responding to the survey. A July 6, 1992
- letter from API to its members states, in part: "It is important for you
- to know that YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED to respond to this questionnaire in
- total, or in part. The GSA HAS NO GOVERNMENT MANDATE requiring this
- information." (Emphasis in original.)
-
- In fact, the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 and the National Pollution
- Prevention Strategy establish the goal of using federal procurement to
- promote pollution prevention.
-
- Urge the following members of Congress to authorize an investigation into
- API's behavior, and to legislate procurement mandates and goals for
- non-chlorine bleached paper products:
-
- Senator Carl Levin, Chair, Subcommittee on Oversight of Government
- Operations, 442 Hart, Washington, DC 20510
-
- Representative John Conyers, Chair, House Government Operations
- Committee, 2157 Rayburn, Washington, DC 20515
-
- Senator John Glenn, Chair, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, 446
- Dirksen, Washington, DC 20510
-
- And tell GSA to continue its efforts to purchase non-chlorine bleached
- paper products:
-
- Richard Austin, Administrator, General Services Administration, 18th and
- F Sts. NW, Washington, DC 20405
-
- For further information contact:
- Government Purchasing Project
- P.0. Box 19367
- Washington, DC 20036
- (202) 387-8030
-
- (ref.: ei Tue Sep 8 07:05:23 1992)
-