LUKE -- The NewPage paper mill in Western Maryland burns 1,400 tons of coal a day to transform rough logs into rivers of shiny white paper for glossy catalogues such as Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma.
Another product: 1.9 million metric tons a year of carbon dioxide, a gas that scientists have concluded causes global warming.
A bill being considered in Annapolis today would require businesses across the state to cut their average emissions of pollutants that cause global warming by 25 percent by 2020 and by 90 percent by 2050.
FOR THE RECORD - Based on inaccurate information from company officials, an article in Feb. 29 editions reported incorrectly that the NewPage mill in Luke, in Western Maryland, makes paper for Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma catalogs. In fact, another NewPage mill makes paper for the catalogs.
The Sun regrets the error.
Gary Curtis, a vice president of NewPage, said these limits could mean he would have to replace coal with natural gas - which creates less carbon dioxide but costs five times as much.
He said he could try to make his machinery more energy-efficient, but that would shave only a few percentage points off his fuel consumption. Substituting wind or solar power for coal wouldn't work, he said, because they are not reliable enough to run his wood pulping machines 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
"It would basically put us out of business," said Curtis, as he watched a clattering conveyor belt carry logs into a machine with whirling blades.
"We need to have [pollution] goals that are aggressive but achievable - and forcing us to do this much would be disastrous," he said.
With 950 employees, NewPage is the largest industrial employer in Western Maryland. And it's one of several businesses in the state, including the former Bethlehem Steel mill and power plants, that have complained that the Global Warming Solutions Act could make it impossible for them to compete by imposing limits that do not exist in other states or countries.
The bill is the subject of a hearing today before the House Economic Matters and Environmental Matters committees.
Supporters of the proposal, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, argue that the economy needs to evolve away from fossil fuels or the human race might eventually be destroyed by climate change.
"We need to move into a much more sustainable future or else we cease to exist as a species," said O'Malley, a Democrat. "People can talk about the increased cost of things. But what sort of increased costs will come from a four-foot rise in sea level for businesses located at Sparrows Point or in Annapolis or in downtown Baltimore?"
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