Do the Right Thing

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) has a close relationship with International Paper (IP) as a partner corporation, but has declined to put any strong pressure on IP to stop the tire burn.

GMCR state that they support socially and environmentally responsible partnerships throughout the world. They could use the leverage of their relationship with IP to stop the burn now. Their environmental mission is in jeopardy, when all they've done is issue a lame public relations statement.

I don't want the adults or children I know in Addison County to breathe the poisons from IP's tire burn. The science is clear that the fine particulates are the most dangerous to human health, and IP will not be testing for them.

Vermont is working to clean up Lake Champlain, but IP is spewing toxic air and water contaminants into the Lake Champlain Basin. Plans to burn sludge are also irreprehensible without an ESP (Electrostatic Precipitator). Sludge burning at the Ticonderoga plant will endanger the health of all downwind residents of the Champlain Valley.

• Sludge burning has been associated with increased emissions of toxic heavy metals
• Sludge burning has been associated with emissions of cancer-causing dioxin compounds
• The Ticonderoga power boiler lacks the proper pollution control equipment (an ESP) required to remove small particles (PM 2.5) - the most hazardous form of particulate air pollutants
• Burning sludge would be at least as dangerous to human health as burning tires

It is way past time for this industry to do business in responsible ways that protect our air and water.

Until IP becomes a responsible neighbour, stops the tire burn, and installs an ESP, I am not buying Green Mountain Coffee nor buying IP paper. I will purchase products from this Vermont business when it bears significant weight on IP to do the right thing. If you're a coffee drinker and care about our water and air quality in Vermont, I urge you to do the same!