Fitchburg Sentinel from Fitchburg, Massachusetts • Page 38

40 Fitchburg Sentinel, Thursday, December 10, 1970 Lake Champlain Pollution Sparks Vermont To Battle TICONDEROGA, N.Y. (AP) Will the Green Mountain Boys lose the second battle of Ticonderoga? The Vermonters won the first skirmish in 1775. Today. Vermonters threaten a legal battle before the U.S. Supreme Court issue--Lake Fort Ticonderoga nearly 200 years ago.

No longer vital as the wilderness gateway to Canada. 100- imile Champlain, which forms Vermont's scenic western border, is threatened by massive pollution. Gov, Deane C. Davis and fellow Vermonters have sought for over the same Champlain months to force the Internation- Ethan Allen's rag-tag band a Paper Co. and the state of 80 woodsmen and farmers York to clean up a mess prised the British garrison I that conservationists say is kill- eleeping behind the ramparts of I ing the lake.

A million and a half cubic vards of paper mill sludge, nearly half the bulk of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, extends a putrid delta into the narrow end of the lake right under the ancient guns of Fort Ticonderoga. The sludge covers 300 acres of the shallow lake bottom. Partly organic wood fibre, it boils and stinks like a witch's cauldron in the summer, consuming the oxygen of the lake as it decays. "They are clubbing the lake to death" says Martin Johnson Vermont's youthful and vtgo rous Water Resources Commis sioner. For nearly half a century the International Paper Cp.

mill has dumped refuse into Ticonderoga Creek. It flows a half mile fur ther to empty into Lake Cham plain. Vermonters complain that sol Ids In the pollution float to the surface as they decay in the summer and are blown by the prevailing westerly winds to the Vermont shore less than a mill away. Last week. Vermont official were thwarted by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers whe they tried to prevent the papc company from opening a nex $80 million mill four miles nortl of Ticonderoga before the cleaned up ttye mess at the old mill.

The new mill will use about 2n million gallons of Lake Cham water each day, which will returned to the lake virtually devoid of pollution, company of-1 New York to i plan to -SERVICE DEPT STORES JOHN FITCH PLAZA FITCHBURG OPEN Now Till Christmas 9 A.M. 11 P.M. Tremendous Selection at Low Discount Warm Winter boots for AH the Family! said. Gov. Davis made a personal appeal to New York Gov.

Nelson Rockefeller last summer foi action on the sludge bed, but. except tor authorizing a test ol i sample of the sludge, nothing done. Vermonters say It was unrealistic to expect that Rockefeller the midst of a re-election campaign, would take action hat would jeopardize 1.000 jobs tnd -a $9 million annual payroll i the depressed upstate area. And. they see President Nix- n's firing of Interior Secretary the decaying sludge in the the sludge bed.

"stilP northward riowinx lake might 11 be a source ol pollution for ecu turies. New York is expected to a for an extension ol lime for further study. Vermont Ally. Gen. James M.

Jeffords has said he will file a suit directly to the Supreme Court after the 15th if there is no satisfactory settlement of the issue. In the background of the dispute, Vermohtera say, is the' fear on the part of company officials that if they are forced to clean up the Ticonderoga areu a legal precedent will be set for Hickel as an early (possible action against them at 'hrislmas present for lake pointers. They also aay that Ralph Kit- a vice president of the Inter- tational Paper is a mem- er of President Nixon'j Pollu- ion Control Board. The complex issue of the lake was transferred to the new federal Environmental Conservation Agency last week. William Ruckelhaus, administrator-designate qt, the agency, ass tired Vermont's senior Sen.

George D. Aiken that an order issued by Hickel before he was fired, set- ling Dec. 15 as a deadline for other paper mills they operate in the United States and Cana da. Fish in Lake Champlain were found to be polluted by mercury last summer. The government ordered the paper company to stop using mercury in processing paper five years ago.

but a residue remains in the sludge. Frank Goss, a spokesman for the firm, said "many engineers feel it would be better to leave the sludge where it is rather than stir it up by dredging." Vcrmonters don't buy this ar gument, and conservationists The company had five tank car loads of sludge pumped out of the lake under terms of the agreement reached last summer between and Rockefeller. This iludgt emptied into a basin near the new paper mill and run through the pollution control lystem, Goss said. Engineers are evaluating the test, and the company has not taken a position on the remaining sludge in the lake. Goss says "the sludge is an accumulation of wood chips and everything else over a century.

Some of it was there before International Paper started opera- Chamber of Commerce Presl- uiit Richard Shumakcr says he 'never could get used to the smell. When you said you were from Ticonderoga people held their noses." He said he thinks the town and community of 8,000 "will take off for a good Juture if wt can clean up our air and wa- 8,000 people Is also going into that creek." ml clctrit. ciuiwiit A sewage treatment plant for the Fitchbu the village Is under construe- Monday i tion. Operations were transferred to the new mill under a special permit issued by the Army- Engineers, and officials claim the new plant has a $5 million pollution control system. Singing Bell Ringers Play Here The Singing Bell Ringers of tions in Ticonderoga in 1925.

Un- Flrsl Parish Church, under treated sewage from upwards of direction of Miss Madeleine Gaylor, will entertain at the mnual Christmas meeting of GET TO YOUR FAVORITE CAR DEALER SELECT THE CAR OF YOUR CHOICE THEN SELECT THE BEST FINANCING AT ROGER MORIN OR GEORGE BOURQUE CAN HELP YOU THIS YEAR. CALL THEM AT CLEGHORN CREDIT UNION 40 Fairmounr Street Fitchburg burg Historical Society in the society building, 50 Grove Alfred Woollacott, president, will conduct a business meeting at 7:30 p.m. Mrs. Roy A. Uphnm, secretary, will give her report.

The librarian's report will be omitted due to the absence of librarian, Miss Theresa 4. Garfield. New members will welcomed. Members are asked to bring mall contributions to purchase gifts for members of the organization who are shut-ins. There, will be carol singing and Mrs.

Alfred Woollacott wilt be hostess assisted by Mrs. John V. Parshley, Mrs. Roger W. i Mrs.

Elliot G. Vellington, Charles C. Jurling and Miss Jane M. Wolfe. Reagan Spenf About $3 Million SACRAMENTO, Calif.

(AP) Gov, Ronald Reagan spent about $3 million in his success- 'ul 1970 re-election campaign. Contributors to th'e Republican incumbent's campaign fund isted in a report filed Tuesday ncluded oil billionaire J. Paul Getty and entertainers Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope. Reagan's Democratic challenger, Jesse Unruh, reported an $873:352 outlay. British Loss Good Thinking LONDON (AP) Prlnct Charles, heir to the British throne, says the loss of American colonies back to 18th Century actually was a suit of smart thinking by his aii- cestor.

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