| Montreal, 7/10/1998 – A study of major North American industries has found
encouraging signs of a drop in pollution, according to the Commission for Environmental
Cooperation (CEC).
Taking Stock 1995, released today by the CEC, is the second annual report on
pollutants released on-site to the air, land and water by industries, or sent off-site for
treatment or disposal. Although more than 20,000 comparable manufacturing facilities in
the United States and Canada reported producing over 1.3 billion kilograms of pollution in
1995, they also reported a downward trend between 1994 and 1995, and forecast that trend
would continue.
"We are encouraged by the signs of a downward trend in releases and transfers,
although there is obviously a lot of progress to make," said Janine Ferretti, Interim
Executive Director of the CEC. "We still have to work together to further reduce
releases and transfers of pollutants. This report allows companies, communities and
governments to assess their progress on a North American scale. Taking Stock
provides an information base that will facilitate trinational cooperation to further
reduce pollution in our shared environment."
The CEC report is based on information made public in Canada's National Pollutant
Release Inventory and the Toxics Release Inventory in the United States. These reporting
systems cover selected pollutants from groups of industries identified by governments, not
all pollutants released into the environment. Chemicals, primary metals and paper products
were the major industries on the list.
The CEC has developed a unique methodology to compare information from the national
registers to provide a continental picture. Information from Mexico will be included when
it fully implements its pollution reporting system.
"The government of Mexico has high expectations for the use of North American
pollutant release and transfer registers in making decisions about environmental
protection," said Adrián Fernández Bremauntz, director of environmental management
and information for Mexico's National Ecology Institute (INE). "With the
publication of Taking Stock, the CEC is fulfilling its commitment to promote
environmental cooperation by making available environmental statistics that are useful to
the North American countries."
According to Michael Walls, senior counsel for the US Chemical Manufacturers
Association in Washington, DC, "CMA and its member companies believe the North
American pollutant release and transfer registers stimulate actions to reduce emissions.
The North American registers and our industry's Responsible Care
initiative—which among other things encourages responsible stewardship of the
production and use of chemical products—are entirely consistent with each
other."
Bruce Walker, research director of STOP, a citizens' environmental organization in
Montreal, said: "Pollutant release inventories give citizens powerful new tools to
evaluate the environmental performance of many stationary sources in North America." | 
