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Willamette Industries Inc. - Johnsonburg Papermill
Willamette Industries is an integrated forest products company with operations in 22 states, Ireland, France and Mexico. In May 1990, Willamette Industries purchased the aging Johnsonburg, Elk County, mill and immediately began a $550 million modernization, including pollution source reduction and improved treatment facilities. The first project of the mill expansion and renewal included installation of a new and efficient wastewater treatment plant. In operation by 1992, the plant significantly improved the Clarion River ecosystem by removing biochemical-oxygen-demand and suspended solids. In 1994, the mill embarked on an effort to reduce cost and landfill volume related to disposal of residual waste. The mill obtained Pennsylvania's first general permit for beneficial land application of effluent treatment solids. This former waste material is now recycled and used to reclaim active and abandoned strip mine sites and the mill's now closed surface impoundment. This method of use is effective because the hardwood pulp fibers hold water in dry weather and compost into the soil, while the calcium carbonate present in the mixture eliminates the need for lime on the acidic mine soil. To date, more than 300 acres of strip mined land have been reclaimed with this material. Approximately 15 acres of abandoned strip mines have also been reclaimed in cooperative projects with the Game Commission, Pennsylvania Rural Abandoned Mines Program and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. This effort greatly improved elk food supply and habitat, where previous attempts to reclaim this land using conventional techniques had required annual maintenance liming and replanting. This program has saved the mill over $3 million in landfill transportation and tipping fees while reducing mine operator's reclamation costs by more than $1 million since implementation in 1995. In addition, more than 160,000 tons of solids have been beneficially used rather than disposed in a landfill, saving approximately 640,000 cubic yards of landfill airspace.
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Willamette Industries Inc. -
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