Pollution from small industry up in Canada, US
Date: 22-Apr-03
Country: CANADA
Author: Robert Melnbardis
In its annual "Taking Stock" report, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an agency set up under the North American Free Trade Agreement, said 3.2 million tonnes of the 206 chemicals it monitors were released or transferred for treatment or disposal in 2000.
That compared with 3.43 million tonnes of pollutants in 1998.
Chemicals surveyed included carcinogens and substances linked to birth defects in humans. Six jurisdictions - Texas, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana - accounted for 37 percent of total releases.
The overall drop in pollutants is encouraging, especially as it came during a three-year period of strong growth in the Canadian and U.S. economies, officials said.
Larger industrial facilities appeared to do better than smaller ones in reining in their pollution during the 1998-2000 period, according to the report.
The 3,600 facilities reporting more than 100 tonnes of chemical releases and transfers recorded a 7 percent reduction in pollutants.
But the report's authors are worried about a 32 percent rise in pollution from small industrial producers, those emitting 10 to 100 tonnes a year.
The smaller facilities studied include a cross-section of industry, scattered across communities in both countries, and ranging from metal fabricators to food processing plants to lumber mills.
"If you are driving down a main street in America or Canada, look to either side - it's the companies that are in the industrial parks," Victor Shantora, acting executive director of the Montreal-based agency told Reuters.
"They are all over. There's over 15,000 of those, so that could mean that even though their (individual) releases are small - under 100 tonnes - they're in our communities, they're in our back yards," he added.
Pollution from that group was especially worrying in Canada, where it was up 66 percent, versus a 29 percent rise in the United States. The high pollution growth figures raise concerns about stewardship of the environment, particularly with respect to smaller industrial facilities that may be "falling through the cracks," Shantora said.
"I think it's important for Canadians and Americans to pay particular notice to what is going on there and how these companies are performing," he said.
Despite the worrisome trend among smaller industrial facilities, the group of 3,600 larger industrial ones still produced 90 percent of total North American pollution. Hydrochloric acid, which can produce environment damaging acid rain, topped the list.
Coal-fired electrical power plants are still the biggest emitters of hydrochloric acid, according to the report.
"They are a source that really stick out like a sore thumb and are really worth ratcheting down on," Shantora said.
The commission's report is available in English, French and Spanish on its Web site at http://www.cec.org.
