Increase in toxic chemicals in Maine not alarming: DEP

STATE — The number of toxic chemicals being released into the air in Maine increased in 2010, bucking a trend of reduction across New England as a whole.

A "Toxic Release Inventory" report from the Environment Protection Agency found that, in Maine, 9.6 million pounds of toxic chemicals were released in 2010, an increase of about 1.1 million pounds.

The chemicals don't represent illegal discharges, said Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officials; in fact, 99.9 percent of emitters are within their legal limits.

According to an EPA statement on the report, 44 percent of releases were air emissions, and 33 percent were discharged into the water from 84 reporting facilities.

The leading chemical category was nitrate compounds, which accounted for nearly 2.5 million pounds of emissions. Methanol, manganese, zinc and ammonia rounded out the top five most common types of emissions.

Samantha Depoy-Warren, a spokesperson for DEP, said that the increase is not necessarily cause for concern.

"The reality is, this hasn't had a noticeable impact on human or environmental health," she said. "Looking from year to year is not as important as looking at trends over time."

Melanie Loyzim, director of the DEP's air bureau, said that fluctuations in the paper mill industry could be playing a role in the increased emissions.

"We had some facilities that had no or very little operation in 2009 that picked back up in 2010, like Millinockett mill for example," said Loyzim. "It could be related to an upturn in the economy."

Loyzim noted that many of the mills have upgraded to more environmentally-friendly processes, making them cleaner than they have ever been.

Loyzim said that some key measures, such as sulphur dioxide releases, have actually shown dramatic improvement.

"That one is largely because they switched from oil to natural gas at some of the major facilities," she said.

Loyzim said that, when measuring the impact on health and the environment, ambient air concentrations are more telling than emissions.

"The amount that a person in the state is breathing is impacted by a whole variety of factors," she said, citing air pollution that drifts into Maine from the South and the Midwest as an example.

At the end of the day, Maine's air quality is "excellent," said Loyzim.

"We are meeting all of the national air quality standards, and the majority of air toxics are below the guideline levels. Other states are struggling to meet the guidelines."

During 2010, 20.6 million pounds of chemicals were released in the six New England states, a overall reduction of about 287,337 pounds.

There were increases in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Those increases were offset by the decreases of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Across the U.S. in 2010, 3.93 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released into the environment, a 16-percent increase from 2009.