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| spec | Society Promoting Environmental
Conservation 2150 Maple Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3T3 Phone (604) 736-7732 Fax (604) 736-7115 Email enviro@spec.bc.ca Web www.spec.bc.ca |
For immediate release: January 24, 2002BC not toxic dump for US waste, says SPEC
SPEC president David Cadman today called on federal Environment Minister David Anderson and BC Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection (WLAP) Joyce Murray to block the importation from Portland, Oregon of 8,600 tonnes of soil contaminated with dioxin and pentachlorophenol; a cancer-causing wood preservative.
“BC should not become a toxic waste dump for US industry,” said Cadman. “The Liberal government promised strong environmental standards. Now we learn they are prepared to allow the dumping of dioxins, a hazardous industrial chemical, close to a major metropolitan area in Richmond, and near the banks of the Fraser River. Dioxins are notoriously difficult to contain and can leach into the aquatic food chain where they contaminate salmon and other food species.”
WLAP and Environment Canada have approved a proposal by Calgary-based Hazco Ltd. to dispose of the contaminated soil at their Richmond landfill and waste disposal site. While the pentachlorophenol will be biologically treated, the dioxin will simply be deposited in the landfill. The material is being shipped to BC because higher US Environmental Protection Agency standards for toxic materials makes it more expensive to dispose of the material in the US. A low Canadian dollar, and less stringent BC standards, makes it increasingly attractive for US companies to ship their wastes to BC. Hazco has not indicated when the contaminated soil will be shipped from Oregon.
“The dioxin concentrations in this material are four or five times those permitted for disposal in the US,” said Cadman. “Ontario and Quebec have already set tighter disposal controls by matching US standards. But BC and Alberta are way behind.”
Dioxins have been found in marine mammals in areas ranging from the Arctic to the St Lawrence. Carcasses of orca whales that have recently floated onto beaches in Puget Sound and Georgia Strait also contained dioxins as well as other industrial toxics.
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Information: David Cadman 604 736-7732, 604 318-0001.To RETURN to INDEX close this browser window
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