Series 6. Apple Grove Paper and Pulp Mill, 1989-1997

Series 6 consists of materials related to OVEC’s efforts to stop the proposed construction of Parsons & Whittemore Incorporated’s Apple Grove Paper & Pulp Mill in Apple Grove, Mason County, West Virginia. Controversy over the project began in 1989, and after successful efforts by OVEC, plans for the pulp mill were scrapped in 1997. The opposition to the pulp mill was rooted in many concerns, especially the release of carcinogenic dioxins into the Ohio River and into the air (dioxin, a carcinogenic chemical, is a byproduct of the chlorine bleaching process used in the pulping process). Other concerns were the pulp mills' outdated technology, the unregulated harvesting of the regional timber stands, closed-door tax breaks, other concessions to be granted by the State of West Virginia to Parsons & Whittemore, and the employment of non-West Virginia workers.
Series 6 materials include OVEC press releases and fact sheets, OVEC and non-OVEC newsletters, regional newspapers and newspaper clippings regarding the pulp mill (including investigative articles, editorials and letters to the editor) and Parsons & Whittemore documents and correspondence. Additionally, there are Environmental Protection Agency documents and reports, and studies regarding the effects of dioxins on humans and animals. Additionally, there is general information regarding pulps mills worldwide, materials related to the American timber industry and the paper products industry.