• Water Pollution
• Air Pollution
• Halton Region NPRI Data
• Halton Top Ten
• Facilities in Oakville
• Links

Pollution is material that contaminates the environment and adversely affects human health and the health of ecosystems.  Contaminants can be biodegradable (like sewage), meaning they rapidly decompose, or nondegradable, (like DDT or radioactive waste) meaning they stay in the environment a long time.  Both forms of pollution need to be monitored and managed. 

Environment Canada and Health Canada share responsibility under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA, 1999) to assess threats posed by pollutants and to "undertake risk reduction measures where necessary."  The Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) "is responsible for protecting clean and safe air, land and water to ensure healthy communities, ecological protection and sustainable development for present and future generations of Ontarians." The MOE has recently released Ontario’s Industrial Emissions Reduction Plan  (2004 Ontario Public Health Assoc. comments on ERP; Enviromental Law comments on ERP). This is a positive though limited effort to reduce Criteria Air Pollutants (the six common pollutants associated with poor air quality). In general, Canada's laws regarding pollution appear weak as language like "risk reduction measures" indicates. 

The Ontario Ministry monitors and reports airborne contaminants Under O. Reg 127/01. These can be accessed at ONAIR (I don't find this site particularly easy to use and current information seems to be from 2003, which seems old as they claim "with OnAIR, you can review emissions reports as soon as they are received by the ministry." In addition the MOE posts Environmental Compliance Reports indicating which facilities are not conforming to environmental regulations. 

The Federal Government monitors emissions from all industries and posts data to the National Pollutant Release Inventory. The particular chemicals tracked are all potentially hazardous. While NPRI tracks emissions in Canada the United States monitors emissions through its own database called the Toxic Release Inventory. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation monitors pollution emissions from the U.S. Canada and Mexico. According to their 2000 report entitled Taking Stock: "Three US states (Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) and one Canadian province (Ontario) each reported more than195 million kg. Together, these four jurisdictions accounted for about one-quarter (27 percent) of total reported releases and transfers in North America in 2000." 

On a positive note, although "facilities in Ontario had the third largest releases and transfers, 200.5 million kg. Ontario ranked first in transfers to recycling" - 96.9 million kg. Most recycling is done by the metals industry.

Making the top 50 of North America's top releasers in 2000 were:

• 13th  Karmax Heavy Stamping, Cosma International Inc. Milton, ON (13.9 million kg of released metals were transferred to recycling)

• 17th Philip Services Inc., Parkdale Avenue Facility Hamilton, ON (Philips received 1.6 million kg from the US and 2.4 million kg from sites within Canada for recycling)

• 29th Ontario Power Generation Inc, Nanticoke Generating Station Nanticoke, ON (closure projected 2009)

• 41st  Dofasco Inc., Dofasco Hamilton Hamilton, ON 

• 50th  Safety-Kleen Ltd., Lambton Facility Corunna, ON (S-K received 16% of transfers from the US and 15.1 million of from NPRI facilities for disposal or treatment).

This report also looked at a handful of chemical releases associated with public health risks. For instance:

• Ontario had the largest on-site air releases of toluene (a developmental toxicant), 4.4 million kg. General Motors of Canada Limited, Oshawa Car Assembly Plant in Oshawa reported over 524,000 kg. Ventra Plastics in Peterborough reported 414,200kg. Quebecor World Inc. in Etobicoke reported 279,196 kg.

•  Three Ontario facilities stand out as reporting the largest quantities of benzene (a carcinogen, a developmental toxin, and a neurotoxin) released to air in North America: Stelco's Hilton Works in Hamilton, Algoma Steel Inc. in Sault Ste. Marie, and Dofasco Inc. in Hamilton.

• Polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) are of international concern as they are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic compounds. Unfortunately, Hamilton, Ontario is the home of three of the top ten PAC producers in North America: VFT Inc., Dofasco Inc. Hamilton, and Stelco's Hilton Works.

• The NPRI facility reporting the largest dioxins and furans was Wabash Alloys plant in Mississauga, Ontario (a secondary aluminum smelter reported releasing 54 grams TEQ of dioxins and furans in 2000). 

• The NPRI facility with the largest releases of chromium (a carcinogen) and its compounds (some extremely toxic) was a primary metals facility in Ontario that reported 925,235 kg - Inco Limited, Copper Cliff Smelter Complex inCopper Cliff.  Philip Services Inc., Fort Erie Facility Fort Erie  reported 466,800 kg. Dominion Castings Ltd., ABC NACO Inc. Hamilton, ON reported 165,385 kg.

• Ontario reported several facilities releasing mercury including GE Lighting's Oakville Lamp Plant in Oakville. (releasing 42kg on-site and 108 kg off-site). This plant ranked 22nd overall.

"A recent report by Environmental Defence and the Canadian Environmental Law Association, showed that between 1995 and 2002 the volume of chemicals reported released and transferred in Canada increased by 49 per cent." Take a look at Toxic Nation - a small study of how pollutants have become absorbed by people from across Canada, participants included Robert Bateman - who taught art in Halton for a number of years, (Environmental Defence, Nov. 2005).

Halton Region NPRI Data

For information about facilities or to locate facilities in a particular location, simply go to the NPRI site, click on On-line Data Search in the left hand index box. For instance to look at toxic releases in Halton Region, select Location Based Search and search by community or specific area determined by postal code: [The first three characters of postal codes in and around Halton are: Oakville L6H-M (excluding I); Burlington L7M-T (excluding O,Q); Milton L9T; Halton Hills L7G; Mississauga bordering Halton L5J-N; Hamilton bordering Halton L9H]  In addition to this site, Environmental Defence and the Canadian Environmental Law Association have created the PollutionWatch website. This website gathers information from the National Pollutant Release Inventory  and ranks polluters by region. It provides a greater range of associated information - including information about the health effects of the specific substances being tracked along with helpful information about pollution. (See US systems like Scorecard and Right to Know in links below). The US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) also operates an excellent database on environmental chemicals, called ToxFacts.

According to Pollution Watch, Halton Region's greatest polluter is the St. Lawrence Cement Factory (it is ranked 54th in the Nation of industrial polluters). In 2004, NPRI reports that this plant made on-site releases of such things as five tonnes of toluene, three tonnes of xylene (also termed dimethylbenzene or methyl toluene), almost a tonne of ethylbenzene, a half a tonne of dichloromethane (also called methylene chloride) and a long list of other substances. These particular chemicals are listed in the top 100 hazardous substances "determined to pose the most significant potential threat to human health due to their known or suspected toxicity and potential for human exposure" by ATSDR and the CDC (see Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act).  In addition, St. Lawrence cement released substances that have been targeted for virtual elimination of emissions due to their extreme toxicity, bioaccumulation and persistence. These included: benzoanthracene, benzopyrene, benzofluoranthene, benzofluanthene, fluoranthene indeno(1,2,3 -CD) pyrene, phenanthrene, pyrene, hexachlorobenzene, and methyl mercury (see Environment Canada's ARET lists, see also information on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs). The above substances are released on-site into the air - coming down - who knows where?

St Lawrence Cement also releases Criteria Air Pollutants.  The 2004 NRPI list reports: 6899.935 tonnes Carbon monoxide, 2254.143 tonnes Oxides of nitrogen (expressed as NO2), 89.322 tonnes Total Particulate Matter, 2601.685 tonnes Sulphur dioxide, 35.848 tonnes Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). (2004 NPRI report).  Environment Canada does have voluntary, non-regulatory emission guidelines for cement kilns, however, "Canada has no enforceable emissions standards for the cement industry (Marisa Jacott et al. Energy Use in the Cement Industry in North America: Emissions, Waste Generation and Pollution Control, 1990–2001 http://www.cec.org/files/pdf/ECONOMY/Jacott-Exec_en.pdf). The increased use of alternative fuels to heat cement kilns (such as tires, waste oils, telephone poles and other nuisance wastes) without required pollution safeguards should be carefully examined. Although, these alternative fuels reduce industry dependence on fossil fuels and recycle waste materials, this practice can be extremely dangerous without proper methods to capture toxic releases. The public needs to ask the government to establish mandatory not voluntary guidelines for the emission of toxic materials. 

Take Action by using pollution watch links to fax or email facilities to encourage pollution prevention or to communicate with the Ministry of the Environment.

Ministry of the Environment  environmental compliance reports for 2002, 2003 in Halton Region

The following are local facilities that have an exceedance - an emission or effluent value above a legal requirement or a ministry policy or guideline.

Links of Interest:

 

Ontario's Environment Bill of Rights

Established in 1994, the EBR guarantees the basic environmental rights of Ontario residents and opens the decision-making process to greater public scrutiny.

Ministry of the Environment 

Halton-Peel District Office
4145 North Service Rd. Suite 300, Burlington, ON  L7L 6A3
Toll free: 1-800-335-5906 or (905) 319-3847

Environment Canada Your Neighborhood

This site provides some useful links for information and events effecting the Great Lakes Region.

Pollution Probe

This environmental organization has four major thrusts: Air, Water, Energy, Indoor Environments. 

Shattering the Myth of Pollution Progress in Canada (2004, Environmental Defence)

GreenPages

Ontario News by Theme -Waste & Pollution Management  (includes: Air Pollution, Composting, Hazardous waste, Recycling, Solid Waste, Wastewater …)

North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation

The CEC have released a five-year analysis of pollution in North America from 1994-1999 called Taking Stock. They report that the North American manufacturing sector has shown a 25% reduction in releases to air but  a  25%  increase in on-site releases to land and a 35% increase in off-site releases (mostly to landfills). Releases to lakes, rivers and streams also increased during this period by 26 percent. The study shows that the biggest polluters in the United States and Canada are Texas, Ohio, Ontario, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Indiana.

Pollution

This is an educational site with K-12 lesson plans to teach about air, water, land and noise pollution. It is from Ontario's Educator's Toolkit.

Brownfield Tax Incentives

The Ontario Brownfields Financial Tax Incentive Program allows municipalities to provide tax assistance to landowners as an incentive for environmental rehabilitation

HEALTH & SAFETY HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES LINKS

This site provides a listing of Hazardous Substance, MSDS, and Toxic Chemical Information Links from around the world.

Environment Canada Accelerated Reduction/Elimination of Toxics ARET

This is a voluntary action for reduction of pollutants

 

Canada has entered into several Multi-lateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), many of which have potential implications for the Canadian iron and steel sector. These include:

• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN ECE) 1998 Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 2001 Stockholm Convention on POPs
• Canada-U.S. Air Quality Agreement - Ozone Annex (2000)
• Kyoto Protocol, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1997) (pdf)
  

US stites

Right to Know Network

This US government-funded organization, operated by the non-profit OMB Watch and the Center for Public Data Access, provides access to national databases.  This information is compiled from the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory database; see above limitations of this database.  

Scorecard

This site created by Environmental Defense will also provide you with information about communities across the United States.

U.S. Public Interest Research Group

U.S. PIRG is watchdog group for the public interest. See their Toxic Releases and Health: A Review of Pollution Data and Current Knowledge on the Health Effects of Toxic Chemicals

Environmental Background Information Center

This organization provides support for grassroots organizations trying to improve the environment in their community.  They will research corporate polluters and analyze GIS and EPA maps to identify trends.

ToxNet

SIS's Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP, http://tox.nlm.nih.gov ) produces TOXNET, a collection of toxicology and environmental health databases that includes the Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), a database of potentially hazardous chemicals, TOXLINE (containing references to the world's toxicology literature), and ChemIDplus (a chemical dictionary and structure database). TOXMAP (http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/) is a web site that uses maps of the United States to show the amount and location of certain toxic chemicals released into the environment.  Haz-Map (http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov) links jobs and hazardous tasks with occupational diseases and their symptoms. 

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