| Montreal, 20/10/2003 – On 8 October 2003, the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America (CEC) recommended to the CEC Council that a factual record be developed for the Pulp and Paper submission (SEM-02-003). The submission alleges that Canada is failing to effectively enforce the pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act and provisions of the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations, or PPER, against pulp and paper mills in Quebec, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. Section 36 of the Fisheries Act prohibits the deposit of a deleterious substance in water frequented by fish, except as authorized by regulations such as the PPER.
The submission was filed with the CEC on 8 May 2002 by Sierra Legal Defence Fund (SLDF) on behalf of several Canadian nongovernmental organizations. The Submitters documented over 2,400 alleged violations of the PPER at approximately 70 mills in central and eastern Canada from 1995 to 2000 and claim very few were prosecuted. Most of the alleged violations involve the failure of mill effluent to meet limits on acute lethality, biochemical oxygen demand or total suspended solids or the failure to conduct follow-up tests required when tests indicate that effluent is acutely lethal.
In its response of 6 August 2002, Canada described how federal Fisheries Act inspectors conduct inspections or investigations to determine if reasonable grounds exist for believing a pulp and paper mill has committed a Fisheries Act offence and explained that the response to an offense accounts for, among other things, the nature of the offense, the likelihood of achieving compliance in the shortest possible time with no further violations, and consistency in enforcement. Canada then provided detailed information regarding federal and provincial enforcement responses taken from 1995 to 2000 in regard to the four Atlantic Provinces mills, six Quebec mills and two Ontario mills for which the Submitters state they have particular concern.
The Secretariat has determined that Canada's response leaves open central questions regarding whether Canada is failing to effectively enforce the pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act and the PPER. The Secretariat notified the Council that a factual record is warranted to develop and present, in connection with all of the mills of concern in the submission, detailed factual information regarding: (1) the federal response to alleged effluent test failures and failures to conduct follow-up tests as required under the PPER; (2) Canada's consideration of provincial action in enforcing the PPER; (3) Canada's use of the full set of enforcement options under federal policy on enforcing and seeking compliance with the pollution prevention provisions of Fisheries Act; (4) the system of self-reporting, inspections and investigations that Canada employs in enforcing the PPER; and (5) federal efforts to promote compliance with the PPER. The Secretariat noted that information regarding offenses for which a timely and active investigation, capable of leading to charges, is underway need not be included in the factual record.
The CEC Secretariat informed the Council of its determination on 8 October 2003, and now, five business days having passed, is able to provide public notification of the determination and to place the rationale for the determination in the public registry. The full text of the submission, Canada's response and the Secretariat's factual record recommendation are available on the CEC web site, at <http://www.cec.org/citizen>.
Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) provides that the CEC Secretariat may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to the NAAEC is failing to effectively enforce an environmental law. Where the Secretariat determines that the NAAEC Article 14(1) criteria are met, it may then proceed with a process that can lead to the development of a factual record on the matter.
The CEC was established under the NAAEC to address environmental issues in North America from a continental perspective, with a particular focus on those arising in the context of liberalized trade. The CEC Council, the organization's governing body, is composed of the top environment officials of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
For further information, please consult: <http://www.cec.org/citizen>. |
