It shouldn’t fall to private-sector reports to alert us to matters of public concern, however often it may happen. And so it was, last week, in the case of two highly polluting Maine paper mills, one in Rumford and one in Skowhegan, named among the dirtiest in America.

By continuing to burn coal and tires — yes, tires — among other dirty fuels, these plants are filling the air we breathe with hazardous pollutants and warming the climate in the process.

According to the study, “A Paper Trail of Pollution,” conducted over six months by the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project, paper industry pollution, driven by dirty fuels and “badly outdated industrial equipment” (the average age of these mills’ boilers was a bewildering 41 years), is grossly underreported — to the tune of 350%. The study included five plants in Maine, all but one originally built more than 100 years ago.

Paper mills’ generation of “biogenic” emissions (from wood and wood byproducts, ethanol, biodiesel and biomass waste) aren’t tracked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Since July of 2022, thankfully, Maine has been tracking those emissions. Now we just need our leaders to act on the data.

As reporting on the study by the Maine Monitor pointed out, Maine is home to two of the last remaining paper plants in America burning tires as fuel.

The opening words of the watchdog study, which is to be commended for its clarity and accessibility, strike a peacebuilding note. “Paper mills are woven into the fabric of the modern world,” the authors note, “manufacturing a wide range of products essential for daily life.”

These mills are woven very tightly, too, into the cultural and economic fabric of Maine. According to a 2021 report from the Maine Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability on the so-so uptake of a tax credit designed to revive the paper industry, average employment in pulp and paper mills dropped by 72% in Maine and 51% in the U.S. between 2000 and 2020. Even then, Maine had the highest concentration of private-sector employment in these mills of any U.S. state, 10 times the national average.

The digital age has been unkind to an industry that once handsomely supported tens of thousands of Mainers. Twenty-five years ago, there were 52 private Maine firms involved in papermaking. Fifteen years ago, there were 37. Five years ago, that number had fallen to just 19.

The commitment of successive administrations to the survival of this endangered species has been plain to see. In 2021, when the Sappi mill in Skowhegan was threatened by a proposed dam removal, Gov. Janet Mills issued a spirited letter to employees. “The Sappi mill is critical to Skowhegan, the surrounding region, and the state of Maine, providing good-paying jobs to Maine people and an important tax base for local residents,” the letter read. 

“As one of the last remaining pulp mills in the state, it is also an integral component of our forest economy supply chain, supporting landowners, loggers and truckers, among others. Closure of this mill, and the resulting ripple effect across the industry, including job losses, would not be acceptable to me — and I will not allow it to happen. My administration’s commitment to the mill is clear and unwavering.”

Maine can and should make every effort to support and future-proof industries with a strong and especially valuable foothold in the state. When it comes to our remaining paper mills, however, relying on the existing EPA emissions framework does us a grave disservice.

With a freshly codified goal of 100% clean energy by 2040 and with a view to both protecting the health of local residents and slashing greenhouse gas emissions, it’s time to be clear and unwavering about modernizing and cleaning up these operations.