capacity to produce nearly 2,000 tons of linerboard per day. 

 In its early days, the mill was responsible for fish kills 

 and other water quality problems, but the mill's wastewater 

 treatment facilities have been expanded as the complexity and 

 quantity of waste have increased. Most recently, the mill 

 has added a color-removal system that will remove much of the 

 organic waste, including color and many other pollutants. 

 The system will be used only on a seasonal basis and will 

 treat only a portion of the total waste flow. It should 

 improve overall effluent quality during seasons when it is 

 operated. The discharge permit granted to Stone Container in 

 1986 set a goal for the company to reduce its nutrient 

 loading to the river to approximately pre-1983 levels. This 

 requirement assures compliance with the nondegradation 

 provisions of the Montana Water Quality Standards. The 

 permit requires a review of the company's actions and 

 progress in meeting the goal no later than one year before 

 the permit expires in 1991. Stone Container has made 

 progress in nutrient reduction, and the color-removal process 

 should aid it in meeting its goals. 



OTHER INDUSTRIES 



Stauffer Chemical Company 



The Stauffer Chemical Company operates an elemental 

 phosphorus plant near Ramsay, about eight miles west of 

 Butte. The facility was built in 1950 by the Victor Chemical 

 Company and was purchased by Stauffer in 1959. 



Phosphate rock ore is shipped by rail from Idaho to the 

 plant. The ore, along with other additional constituents, is 

 charged to two large rotary kilns that change the material 

 into nodules. Various types of dust and fluoride pollutants 

 are emitted in this process. The nodulized material, along 

 with coke and silica rock, is cooled and stored in silos. 

 Following storage, the nodulized material is fed to two 

 electric furnaces that vaporize the phosphorus from the 

 nodules. The vaporized phosphorus is cleaned of contami- 

 nating dust in electrostatic precipitators and then condensed 

 in water. It is filtered, stored under water, and shipped 

 out in tank cars. Elemental phosphorus must be stored under 

 water at all times. When exposed to air, it burns to 

 phosphorus pentaoxide. The reaction is immediate and forms 

 dense white clouds of a particulate that is very visible. 



Sources of visible emissions, in addition to the slag 

 tapping operation at the furnaces, are the kiln stacks and 

 sometimes the roaster area, although there are also other 

 fugitive-type emissions within the Stauffer facility. 



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