Report: Paper Mills Around the Country, Including Virginia, Release Pollution From Decades-Old Boilers

Conversion to heat pumps and accurate counting of emissions for wood sources could reduce the problem.

Donna Thomasson is a 34-year-old nurse who grew up on a hillside overlooking the Smurfit Westrock paper mill nestled in the hollers of Covington in Southwest Virginia.

Its smokestacks tower over nearby homes.

“I think it’s getting worse,” she told researchers at the Environmental Integrity Project about air pollution coming from the mill. “The odor gets so bad sometimes, you’ll throw up if you come outside. I’ll tell you this: It will kill us all someday.”

Thomasson’s remarks are contained in a report, “A Paper Trail of Pollution,” released Thursday by the environmental watchdog group, which tracks greenhouse gases and air pollutants from 185 of the nation’s largest paper mills that together reported emitting 33 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2023—the equivalent of 7.6 million cars annually. Those emissions, the report found, are due in large part to aging boilers heating the plant’s operations, and burning fossil fuels or wood waste.

But the true amount of emissions from those mills is 115 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, the report found, because the EPA exempts emissions from burning wood and wood waste from its reporting protocols, based on the rationale that trees can be replanted. The larger number is the equivalent of emissions from 26.8 million cars. 

“Even in the digital age, we need paper products. But there is no reason a clean sheet of paper needs to be made with dirty fuels and ancient boilers,” said Jen Duggan, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project. “The American paper industry should modernize these plants to use cleaner and more efficient power systems and increase recycling to reduce climate pollution and protect the health of nearby communities. And this industry should not be allowed to hide its climate pollution.”

The Smurfit Westrock mill in Covington was one of three case studies highlighted in the report, alongside the Port Townsend Paper Co.’s mill north of Seattle and New-Indy Containerboard, a mill in Catawba, South Carolina. 

In total, Virginia has 10 paper mill plants, which are separate from the wood pellet producers that harvest trees for electricity generation, primarily in England. The mills include two other Smurfit Westrock facilities, one in West Point and the other in Hopewell.

The Covington-based mill was the industry’s top greenhouse gas emitter in 2023, at a reported 970,084 metric tons, the Environmental Integrity Project found, but the number is actually 2.5 times higher—2.49 million metric tons—because of the loophole afforded by the EPA. 

“Pollution from industrial factories burning trees is an under-counted source of climate-warming pollution,” said Victoria Higgins, Virginia director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “In order to deliver on the promise of clean air and a stable climate, we need to ensure facilities like the more than century-old Smurfit Westrock mill in Virginia are moving to cleaner energy sources.”

The company did not respond to a request for comment. 

The American Forest & Paper Association, of which Smurfit Westrock is a member, said in a statement that its members have cut “sulfur dioxide emissions by over 80% since 2000 and nitrogen oxide emissions by about 50%.” Along with setting sustainability goals, the association said the use of waste for power allowed it to “set a voluntary climate goal to further cut our CO2 emissions in half by 2030.”

The National Paper Trade Association said its “members are actively engaged in initiatives that promote renewable sourcing, efficient production, and compliance with environmental regulations,” while recognizing “the importance of balancing industrial innovation with accountability.”

Founded in 1899 and operating ever since, the Covington plant produces a variety of products, including corrugated sheets and in-store displays. The facility is highlighted by the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corp. as the largest bleached paperboard mill on the continent. 

Running seven days a week, 365 days a year, the plant employs about 985 people “injecting roughly $328.4 million annually into the local economy,” according to the economic development corporation.  

An internal 2024 sustainability report highlights a partnership with The Nature Conservancy in several states, including Virginia, supporting “restoring longleaf pine forests, preserving native wildlife habitat, conserving freshwater and implementing sustainable timber practices supporting local economies.”

But it also uses a boiler made in 1940, the Environmental Integrity Project said. About 73 percent of mills in the report had outdated boilers, those older than 15 years. Over 40 percent have at least one boiler that is half a century old. 

Those older technologies require cleaning, and with boilers rarely going above 200 degrees Celsius, they could be converted to industrial heat pumps powered with renewable energy sources. 

A separate report from the Sierra Club found that over 75 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from boilers come from low and medium-heat processes, which could instead use cleaner options such as conventional electric resistance and electrode boilers.

The Covington plant also uses coal, rubber and “black liquor,” which is a liquid waste left over after the digestion of wood into pulp. Some mills use the liquor to reuse chemicals, according to the Environmental Integrity Project, but it can release carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds, “all of which can harm both human health and the environment,” the report stated.

Among several recommendations from the group are tightening emissions controls for the industry, and accurately accounting for emissions from wood and black liquor products instead of relying on the “questionable rationale” to exclude those. Trees that aren’t burned may more slowly release carbon through a natural decaying process.

“Trees grow back, presumably, and of course, companies manage their forests or buy mass resources differently. Some companies manage trees and forests very well, while others don’t. There’s a lot of variability in there,” said Courtney Bernhardt, director of research for the Environmental Integrity Project. “What type of tree are you harvesting and then replanting? Where are you located? All of that stuff comes into play.”

In Covington, the Environmental Integrity Project found that regulators enforced two violation notices for nitrogen oxide air pollution, with penalties of only $3,106 for one and $28,788 for the other. Across the country, agencies brought 267 enforcement actions against 95 plants in the last five years, with $7.4 million in environmental penalties.

Among other incidents in Covington, the plant’s release of industrial-process wastewater in the Jackson River in November led to the death of 56 fish. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality levied a $1,855.26 fine.

“The Jackson River is a beautiful trout fishing stream,” said Tom Pelton, director of communications for the Environmental Integrity Project, who visited the area that is near Lake Moomaw. “From what we heard from the fishing guides in the area, the fish downstream are fewer and they’re less healthy.

“An investment by the company in their own plans could also make an investment for the tourism industry in Virginia, for fishing guides, for everyone who loves the outdoors in Virginia,” Pelton added.

Cover photo:  A view of a waste pond at the Smurfit Westrock paper mill in Covington, Va. Credit: Tom Pelton/Environmental Integrity Project