Columbia River Carbonates (CRC), a mining and mineral processing company that produces ultra-fine calcium carbonate products, recently received the most prestigious environmental award in Washington State, the Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention and Sustainable Practices.

Each year, a judging panel (comprised of environmental professionals from state and federal environmental agencies, public citizen groups and industry) meets to screen candidates nominated for the award. The panel selects companies that have gone beyond mere environmental regulatory compliance by adopting principles of sustainability and implementing them — not by word service in a mission statement, but by actual day-to-day operations.

CRC produces ultra-fine calcium carbonate products for the paint, plastics, PVC pipe and paper industries in the Pacific Northwest. Although the company's processing plant incorporates ultra-fine grind technology to produce value-added slurry and dry products to rigid specifications, in essence it does much the same thing as an aggregates crushing operation. It takes large rocks and systematically makes them smaller.

CRC operates an open-pit quarry in north central Washington, crushes and screens to 6-inch minus, and ships the rock to its Woodland plant via rail. There, the stone is crushed, ground, screened and classified. Environmental issues involve water treatment, storm water runoff, air quality and dust control — much the same as a traditional aggregates operation. CRC's finished products range from fine powders (particle size distributions of 3 to 10 microns) to 2-micron bright slurries used for coating printing papers.

The company's main office and processing plant are located in Woodland, a rural community in southwestern Washington. In 1985, the region had been designated a “timber distressed” area by the state due to economic decline and double-digit unemployment. With the opening of CRC that year, Woodland welcomed its first heavy industrial plant and the accompanying 50 jobs with open arms.

Initially, the plant featured a single process wastewater flow from wet plant wash-down, overflow and/or spillage. Treatment was accomplished via two unlined settling lagoons on the 16-acre site. Within two years, entry into the coated paper market (which demands a very pure and high brightness slurry) required installation of a froth flotation system. Flotation utilizes chemical reagents to remove impurities such as clay, quartz and graphite. Lined settling lagoons were required for receiving flotation process wastewater.

CRC now had two separate wastewater streams treated in four settling lagoons covering more than four acres. At that time, the term “sustainability” was used to refer to the constant turmoil involved in treating and discharging wastewater so that daily production could continue without interruption. The system was at best awkward and difficult to manage, and at worst a labor-intensive operational nightmare that required focused attention 24/7.

COMMUNITY PRESSURE

In 1997, CRC attracted a building products company utilizing calcium carbonate as its primary raw material to set up shop directly across the street from its production plant. During the course of the land-use approval process and ensuing public hearings, out came the “torches and pitchforks” and an outcry from local citizenry concerning industrial abuses by CRC: “Noise! Dust! Lighting! Truck traffic!”

CRC's status plummeted from hero to goat overnight. It was the same old NIMBY song and dance that all rock and mineral crushing industries suffer when a permit application or renewal process comes around. CRC and its operations were under the hot lights and on the defensive. In order for the new and critically important customer facility to be approved, CRC had to do some major repair work on its community image.

A SERIES OF CHALLENGES

Concurrently, the lagoons were filling to the rim — three acres of solid waste, eight feet deep; after years of investigating disposal alternatives, the company still had nowhere to go. Consequently, the capacity for water treatment was dangerously low. Add 40+ inches of rain each year to 14 million gallons of process wastewater; CRC faced a serious logistical and operational problem.

In the late 1990s, the company was discharging 14 million gallons of treated water annually to the Columbia River. Production and waste treatment could no longer be sustained without a major overhaul. To further complicate matters, the company's NPDES Permit (governing process wastewater discharge) was up for renewal.

During its first decade of operation, CRC had not foreseen such rapid growth, product volume and waste accumulation. As a result, impacts to the neighboring community had escalated, the ponds had filled with solid waste, and the wastewater treatment system (and its underlying NPDES) had to be redesigned. Change needed to be implemented quickly, but strategies first had to be developed to meet serious operational challenges. On top of that, production needed to continue around the clock while maintaining full compliance with environmental permits. These were difficult times for a relatively young, growing company.

FROM CHAOS TO CLARITY

The time for action was at hand. CRC had to address three issues simultaneously — community concerns, environmental impacts and compliance, and continued business growth.

1. Response to the community

   CRC proposed and entered into a binding contract with the City of Woodland to invest in specific impact-mitigation improvements. This provided instant credibility and demonstrated commitment (and approval of the land-use permit for the new customer facility). The actions taken included:

   • Extensive paving; enclosure and tarping of stockpiles; implementation of housekeeping policies, procedures and training; and re-vegetation and landscaping of exposed areas reduced fugitive dust emissions.

   • Inventory and re-evaluation of facility lighting requirements resulted in reduction of overall lighting coupled with directional shading to significantly reduce light impacts.

   • With the guidance of an acoustical engineering consultant, CRC installed sound-insulation materials, implemented work practices to reduce noise (e.g., closing plant doors), and scheduled high-impact activities (e.g., rail car unloading) to mid-day hours.

   • CRC expanded and improved storm-water treatment facilities, which eliminated storm-water runoff.

   • CRC implemented a scholarship program for Woodland High School graduates (now in its ninth year), which helps local families pay for a wide range of college and vocational training.

   • The company published a formal report for the City Council and community that described measures taken and results obtained.

2. Response to waste and water treatment challenges

   In 1997, CRC was up to its eyeballs in pond sludge and had little capacity for water treatment (and was, therefore, spending a bundle on treatment chemicals). Also, the company received a request from the Washington Department of Ecology for detailed information on wastewater treatment to renew its NPDES permit renewal. The Department of Ecology required that a WET (Whole Effluent Toxicity) test be conducted on pond discharge water. Also known as the “fish kill” test, it determines how the water affects aquatic species over time. CRC discovered that its flotation effluent water was causing harm to these species. Unfortunately, CRC chemists said they could not change flotation chemicals to avoid the problem so another solution was needed.

   Bernie Schockelt, general manager, called a summit meeting to address this issue and a SWAT (Stop Waste All Together) team was formed. The production and technical staff, which was challenged to “think outside the pond,” came up with the following solutions.

   • The automation/electrical manager diagramed a unique approach for water treatment. The concept: instead of separating particles from wastewater with flocculants in a lagoon, attack the problem directly. The team developed an industrial centrifuge system to remove the majority of particulates, followed by a clarifier and small concrete pond to flocculate ultra-fines. A small trial model was constructed by CRC, then an actual system, which worked.

   • All treated wastewater is recycled back to production. Zero discharge was achieved for a period of four years. (Currently, due to production changes dictated by market conditions, CRC intermittently discharges 3 million gallons of clean water annually. Still, this is down from the 14 million gallons discharged before the changes were implemented.)

   • All wastewater effluent from the flotation system is recycled back to flotation, thereby eliminating any residual chemical discharges, which saves on treatment costs and keeps the fish healthy.

   • Since more than 70% of the solid waste is calcium carbonate, the material is registered as “waste derived” agricultural lime (aglime) in liquid form with the State of Washington, Department of Agriculture (with review and analysis by the Department of Ecology). The new “liquid lime” product was excavated from all settling lagoons and distributed as aglime. The aglime is now accumulated in storage tanks and shipped off-site in truckload lots for use as high-grade agricultural lime.

   • The team conducted an inventory of all hazardous chemicals, lubricants, solvents and degreasers, which could generate hazardous waste, and replaced them with non-hazardous substitutes. This reduced the company's RCRA status from Medium Quantity Generator to Small Quantity Generator. Hazardous waste disposal at CRC is now a rare event.

   • The team installed an oil-water separator evaporation unit to remove 100% of the oil from the compressor blow-down. It also installed oil filtration inserts in all storm drains to eliminate oil contamination in storm- water and storm-sewer discharges.

3. Enhancing business growth

   Although the solutions adopted required a significant investment of time, money and resources, the end result was quite favorable to the bottom line. In fact, as time goes on, the financial rewards and returns on investment continue to improve.

   • Before this initiative was completed, thousands of gallons of chemicals and an inordinate number of labor hours were consumed each year for wastewater treatment and discharge to the Columbia River. Now, a compact wastewater treatment facility handles all process wastewater and recycling, as well as storage, loading and transport of agricultural lime byproduct.

   • By recycling flotation effluent, CRC has reduced overall process chemical costs.

   • By all but eliminating the need for hazardous waste disposal, the company has eliminated thousands of dollars in disposal costs and avoided ongoing liabilities associated with waste disposal sites and potential cleanup issues.

   • CRC has enhanced its image within the community; this continues to pay dividends as the company grows with the community, not in conflict with it.

OWNERSHIP COMMITMENT

CRC is a partnership between Bleeck Management Inc., a family-owned company founded by Joerg Bleeck, and Northwest Carbonates Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Omya Inc., an international producer of calcium carbonates.

The partners' commitment to invest in big-picture, long-term solutions is the key to this success story. The monetary investment required to solve the problems and maintain regulatory compliance was substantial. The decision to invest in solutions that surpass the minimums and establish a facility committed to principles of environmental stewardship and community enhancement is what made CRC an award-winning producer. Although expensive at the outset, the resulting savings in labor, chemical consumption and other production-related costs have more than justified the investments made.

Throughout the process, the company followed this mission statement posted on the Environmental Protection Agency's Web site: “Sustainability has many definitions but the basic principles and concepts remain constant: balancing a growing economy, protection for the environment, and social responsibility, so they together lead to an improved quality of life for ourselves and future generations.”

Reed Sherar is general counsel for Columbia River Carbonates, Woodland, Wash. For more than 20 years, he has served as in-house counsel for CRC. His responsibilities include all matters pertaining to labor and employment, safety and health, and environmental permitting and compliance.