Environmental record
Stephen Engelberg of The New York Times wrote that in 1995, Georgia-Pacific persuaded the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to approve an amendment that derailed a pending EPA investigation of Weyerhaeuser Company, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, and Georgia-Pacific, arguing that the EPA was "unfairly applying present-day standards to decisions made 10 to 15 years ago", and that the EPA test method overstated the emissions from wood products factories.[19] Georgia-Pacific's opponents believed "the measure could allow Georgia-Pacific avoid installing pollution gear at many of its plants." Engelberg wrote, "Nonetheless, [Georgia-Pacific] said they would install controls at plants that need them."[19]
Georgia-Pacific is also involved in several remediation sites, many of which were landfills used by other manufacturers, municipalities and other businesses, and individuals. Two of the primary remediation sites - the Fox River in Wisconsin and Kalamazoo River in Michigan - involve the cleanup of PCBs. Georgia-Pacific is contributing to dam removal work as part of an effort to clean up PCB contamination in Kalamazoo.[20]
In 2007, the EPA announced legal agreements among itself, Michigan, Georgia-Pacific, and Millennium Holdings (a corporate successor of the Allied Paper Corporation) requiring the companies to clean up an estimated $21 million worth of environmental damage to the Plainwell Impoundment Area. Another settlement required an additional $15 million of environmental work on the Kalamazoo River Superfund Site.[21]
Georgia-Pacific is the largest user of de-ink fiber in the world, and its subsidiary company GP Harmon trades in the recycled material.[22] The company has expanded into other markets in countries like Mexico and China. In 2005, president of the division Simon Davies estimated that China would require the import of scrap paper from the US and elsewhere for at least 15 years. In the long run, he asserted, the growth of the Chinese middle class would be correlated with a large increase in paper production, and having viable paper recovery systems in place would be of great value to them.[23]
The Georgia-Pacific paper mill in Crossett, Arkansas was the subject of environmental documentary film Company Town, released in 2016. The film alleges that improper waste disposal by the mill has caused a cluster of cancer incidents in the area around the mill.[24]
