The Toxic Legacy of Federal Neglect

October 17, 2008

Pulp and Paper Pollution: The Toxic Legacy of Federal Neglect (1.5 MB) provides a set of clear recommendations for Canada to work towards credible and verifiable data, fulfilling its obligation to protect environmental and public well-being, and to meeting its domestic and international obligations.

Download the background Excel spreadsheets for the Toxic Story

Executive Summary

This report examines the status of the pulp and paper industry in Canada, including closures, barriers to information, and the range and quantities of pollutants released from pulp and paper mills with a focus on those pollutants found toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). It reviews regulatory and voluntary government measures in place, and legacy sites resulting from mill closures. While B.C. mills are a major focus of this report, the overall national picture on pulp and paper mills is also considered.

The report demonstrates major inadequacies in government oversight of the pulp and paper industry. These inadequacies are the result of decades of failure by the federal government to adequately protect human health and the environment through federal programs concerned with regulation, jurisdictional matters, the management of toxic substances, the quality and accessibility of data and information, and legacy sites resulting from closures of mills . The federal government has failed to properly safeguard public health and workers’ health and to fulfill its obligations under international environmental agreements.

For decades, communities have been exposed to a toxic brew of pollutants in air, water and their food from mills, and have then been left to contend with the contaminated sites, with no requirements that the polluters pay for cleanup and remediation of these sites. Governments have seriously resisted enforcing technological improvements to reduce pollution, and making these operations more efficient.

With the exception of some federal regulations on pulp and paper introduced in the early 1990s, such as the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations under the Fisheries Act, governments, (both federal and provincial) have been missing in action for decades. There has been a complete lack of government oversight for an industry that plays such a vital role in Canada.

Overall, the industry in Canada is in difficulty – financial and otherwise. They have made some poor choices in investments and have been slow to make investments. While government (provincial usually) has provided financial assistance to bail out failing operations, (e.g., Saskatchewan’s Meadow Lake facility, B.C.’s Skeena mill at Prince Rupert) it is not evident that the overall performance of these mills has improved and their emissions reduced. In fact, Canada lags well behind Sweden and Finland, the leaders in this industry, and in some instances the U.S., in regulatory measures and technologies to control and reduce pollution from pulp and paper mills.

Strong federal regulations under CEPA 99 are needed to deal with the suite of pollutants released from and disposed of by these facilities. Emission limits should be set based on Best Available Techniques (BAT) for preventing and minimizing pollution. Sufficient resources must be dedicated to ensure that emissions are directly monitored on a regular basis, and that regulations are fully enforced.

Compliance, enforcement and on-site inspection of these facilities are the ultimate responsibility of the federal government. While federal and provincial governments share authority over environmental issues, the application of such authority must be consistent and rigorous and ensure uniformity across the country. Provincial regulations must incorporate federal standards as a minimum, and should do better. Operating permits must be subject to renewal and upgrade on a regular basis.

Data must be derived through direct measurement and monitoring done on a routine and, where possible, continuous basis. Estimation methods (emissions factors) that are not verified by actual measurement are meaningless. Without credible, verifiable data, and independent monitoring, there is no means to validate reductions, and Canada cannot claim that it is enforcing its regulations or meeting its international commitments.

Pollutant inventories need to be improved in terms of data quality, ease of use, and comprehensiveness in terms of reporting thresholds and substances covered.

Access to information on mill operations must be improved. An appropriate and consistent classification system must be used to incorporate all operating pulp and paper mills in Canada. Government departments should employ uniform means of tracking the industry.

All facilities must be required to have provisions built into their operating licenses or permits that take into account closures, and include liability on the part of the company for costs associated with the accumulation of pollutants on site, including any migration of these pollutants, and the clean-up, remediation and restoration of their sites. It is not the responsibility of the taxpayer, or the affected community, to clean up a site or to have to live with contaminants from derelict industries. In particular, governments must take responsibility to examine specific issues such as the impact on human health of dioxins and furans in the B.C coastal mills region, and to update dioxin-based fish advisories in accordance with revisions made by Health Canada to “safe” exposure levels.

Recommendations

In order to make the necessary changes to significantly alter decades of pollution caused by this industry, governments must take the following actions:

Implement federal regulation that incorporates standards based upon Best Available Techniques (BAT), pollution prevention strategies and that require substantial directly measured reductions.
Require operating permits to be updated on a regular basis. Permits must include provisions for closure, such as including costs, posting bonds and remediation plans.
Establish consistent policies regarding standards, inspections, and monitoring of both provincial and federal regulations and permit requirements.
Use an appropriate classification system to clearly define the pulp and paper mill industry in Canada.
Require emissions data to be derived through direct measurement and direct monitoring on a routine basis.
Improve pollutant inventories in terms of quality of data, ease of use, and comprehensiveness of coverage.
Ensure that public information on government websites on regulations and monitoring is consistent, up-to-date, and clear.

Reliable data are essential for setting policies, developing and enforcing regulations, and projecting trends. Lack of credible, verifiable data compromises public well-being and calls into question whether or how Canada is meeting its domestic and international obligations.

Ineffective and/or non-existent regulations continue to allow companies to pollute with impunity and leave in their wake a legacy of toxic sites when they close. Regulatory action on the part of the federal government is necessary. But to be effective, as demonstrated by PPER, the department must have the resources to ensure compliance and enforcement. Piecemeal, inconsistent provincial measures do not work. At all levels of government, what is mainly lacking is the political will to properly protect human health and the environment.

Download the background Excel spreadsheets for the Toxic Story

Read about the historic Powell River accident here