THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER
506 Victoria Ave., Montreal, Quebec H3Y 2R5
Ph. (514) 369- 0230, Fax (514) 369- 3282
Email cibe@web.net 
Vol. 4, No. 4, February12, 2000

SPECIAL REPORT ON NPRI 1997

NATIONAL POLLUTANT RELEASE INVENTORY (NPRI)

Environment Canada released its 1997 results of the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) in December, 1999. We provide here an analysis of that report. The NPRI is one of the strongest tools remaining within Environment Canada to encourage companies and municipalities across Canada to clean up their pollution. 
While NPRI is mandatory reporting mechanism under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), its use generates voluntary actions to clean up. One company that has been especially good at cleaning up due to its listing on the NPRI is Co Lasco Steel in Whitby, Ontario. It has done and excellent job. Other companies have not. First we will review the NPRI process, its strengths and weaknesses. Secondly, we will report on its findings regarding pollution clean up in Canada. For more information you can contact Francois Lavelle, NPRI, Environment Canada, 9th Floor, 351 St. Joseph Blvd., Hull, Quebec K1A 0H3, ph. 
(819) 953-1656, fax (819) 994-3266, email npri@ec.gc.ca Visit the website at http://www.ec.gc.ca/pdb/npri/

COMPANIES REQUIRED TO REPORT ON 176 POLLUTANTS IN 1997, AND REPORT ON 246 POLLUTANTS IN 1998

Since 1994, industry has been required to report on 176 listed pollutants under NPRI. Responding to concerns that the small list was insufficient, Environment Canada expanded the list in April 1999 to 246. This is an increase of 73 pollutants, which include 20 toxic substances. In 1997, a total of 1973 Canadian facilities submitted 7,375 pollutant reports. Of the 176 substances, a total of 138 were identified and reported on in 1997. See the full Environment Canada announce of the addition of new pollutants to the list at http://www.ec.gc.ca/press/sop99_n_e.htm

12.7% INCREASE IN POLLUTANT RELEASES FROM 1996 TO 1997

Reported on site releases of NPRI pollutants increased 12.7%, or 18,235 tonnes from 1996, for a total of 161,876 tonnes in 1997.
Off site transfers for disposal increased 54.7%, or 34,056 tonnes over 1996 up to 96,341 tonnes in 1997. A large portion of the increase in releases reported to the NPRI between 1996 and 1997 was attributed to better reporting by the power generation utilities sector, and therefore does not necessarily represent an actual increase in releases. What it means is that there were higher releases by the coal fired electricity stations than were actually reported in previous years. Apparently, the "mass balance" calculations estimating emissions by Ontario Power Generation, Quebec Hydro and others were wrong, and had to be upgraded after discussions with Environment Canada. For more information about Ontario Power Generation which has by far the largest coal fired generating capacity in Canada, go to their website at http://www.ontariopowergeneration.com/

NPRI REPORTING THRESHOLD NEEDS TO BE LOWERED 

Any person in Canada who owned or operated a facility is required to submit a report to NPRI, if all three of the following criteria are met.
That the facility used 10 tonnes (10,000 kg) or more of an NPRI substance in any given year in its manufacturing processes. That the substance represented at least 1.0% or more, by weight, in the material used. And, that the facility employees worked a total of 20,000 hours, (equivalent to 10 full time employees) or more during any given year.
It should be understood that these levels are rather high and that facilities using smaller amounts than 10 tonnes a year are numerous and collectively, "may account for the majority of releases of some pollutants", states Environment Canada in its NPRI report. Some environment groups have expressed the concern that there are some highly toxic contaminants that are used in amounts much less than 10 tonnes per year. Many tonnes of these contaminants reach the environment and affect human health, but are never reported on because they are emitted at levels below the 10 tonne threshold. The groups have asked that the threshold be lowered in order to accurately report on emissions that are now not being covered. For more information see the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy website at http://www.web.apc.org/cielap/

NPRI REPORTS ONLY A FRACTION OF POLLUTION RELEASES IN CANADA

The NPRI remains very valuable tool for tracking pollution. However, it should be understood that it looks at only a slice of all pollution going to the environment. For example, NPRI estimates that nationwide releases of key contaminants from mobile sources and fuel distribution operations are much higher than all the emissions from the stationary sources reporting to NPRI. For example, it estimates emissions of ethylene at 89,828 tonnes from mobile sources, compared to total reported emissions of stationary sources to NPRI of 2,058 tonnes. And it shows that on-road motor vehicles emitted 34,844 tonnes of toluene, while NPRI sources reported total emissions of 6,971 tonnes of toluene. And sources of benzene from gasoline and diesel fueling of off road vehicles totals 5,321 tonnes while all NPRI sources reported only 1,770 tonnes in benzene releases. See chapter ( 5.2, p. 53, and Appendix 3) You can find additional information about the NPRI in an article prepared by the Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment in Southam's Hazardous Materials Management Magazine's March 2000 issue, soon to be out. Visit Hazardous Materials Management website at http://www.hazmatmag.com/

NPRI STOPPED REPORTING ON DISCHARGES TO SPECIFIC WATER BODIES AND STOPPED PROVIDING PROVINCIAL COMPARISONS

Last year in the 1996 NPRI report, Environment Canada identified major waterways in Canada that were being impacted but large scale releases of pollutants. It was an excellent service providing the public some understanding of how much pollution was going into rivers such as the St. Lawrence River, the St. John River, and the St. Clair River. Nothing this year for 1997. It disappeared. What remains in this year's NPRI report is a one-third page reference on page 21 (Item 3.3.4) which reverts to vague generalizations of releases to all waters in Canada. 

At the same time this year's NPRI report ended last year's experiment in providing comparisons between provinces. Now the public does not have as clear an understanding on Provincial comparisons, when it comes to major releases and told fallout of toxics affecting their environmental health. Instead, anyone who wants to understand what the NPRI numbers mean to them will have to ferret out the information from a very large report and associated database. They have to some number crunch in order to discover how the provinces are doing comparatively. It is excellent that each Province has its own report for 1997, but it still doesn't provide a comparison. Environment groups have recommended that the NPRI be made more user friendly, providing some of the analysis for the public. It can start by reinstating the excellent reporting it did on major impacted waterways and on provincial comparisons.

SEE THE TOXIC SCOREBOARD FOR TRI CREATED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND (EDF)

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) received substantial resources from donors to provide interpretation of the United State's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). TRI and NPRI are very similar, and the new interpretation measures used by EDF and others in the U.S. 
related to data generated by TRI, should be applied here in Canada to help citizen's to understand the health implications of releases reported under NPRI. Visit the website at http://www.scorecard.org/

1997 MATCHED DATA COMPARISONS ARE WEAK

The public would like to know the progress of companies and the provinces reducing their pollution releases. This requires a comparison of similar data sets from year to year. Environment Canada has undertaken such a task for the three year period, 1995, 1996 and 1997, however, the results are limited. Why? Firstly, the data is limited to the smaller number of companies that began reporting in 1995, thus not including more facilities that were added to the report later on. Since 1995, "nearly 200 additional facilities have started reporting and nearly 1,000 additional pollutant reports have been submitted", reports NPRI. Thus none of the new reporting facilities and their additional pollutants are calculated in the NPRI matched data. 
Further, the power generation sector was left out of the matched data altogether because it had been reporting wrong, and lower, numbers all along, until 1997, when they changed their methodology to reflect more accurate pollution releases. For example, the total number of facilities reported to NPRI in 1997 was 1,973 and they provided 7,375 reports.
Yet the matched data set to 1997 uses only 1,563 facilities which provided 5,250 reports. A large part of the picture is missing. (See sections 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 . So in Alberta, for example, while in 1997, 118 facilities provided 181 reports, the matched data set for Alberta used only 92 facilities and 119 reports. In Ontario, 1997 all data was from 962 facilities, issuing 3,604 reports, on 124 chemicals, yet the matched data for Ontario was for 778 facilities, on 2,558 reports, looking at just 104 chemicals.

LACK OF VERIFICATION OF NPRI REPORTS TIME TO INSTITUTE SURPRISE SPOT CHECKS

Environment Canada has been so stripped of resources from the 30 per cent budget cuts accumulated over the past four years, that it is unable to verify the pollution reports submitted by the companies under NPRI. It became clear that when the utility industry sector was not properly reporting its emissions, that much more verification must be undertaken either by Environment Canada, or by the provinces, or by NGO's like the West Environmental Law Centre, or the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP). Without third party validation of the numbers being provided to NPRI, the Canadian public is not sure of actual releases of toxics to the environment. If Environment Canada is unable to verify all reports to NPRI, then it can institute surprise spot checks of reporting companies, thus keeping all of them on their toes as to when an audit might be made of their reporting processes.

POLLUTION PREVENTION REPORTING REQUIRED

Starting in 1997, industries in Canada must report under the National Pollutant Release Inventory. on their pollution prevention activities. Pollution prevention is defined as the use of processes, practices, materials, products or energy that avoid or minimize the creation of pollutants and waste, and reduce the overall risk to human health or the environment. One of the excellent reports of contaminant reduction due to pollution prevention was from Kelsey-Hayes Canada Ltd., in Woodstock, Ontario. It reported that, "the use of the coolant containing Diethanolamine (DEA) was completely eliminated from the facility. It was replaced by another coolant which does not contain any DEA. This will result in zero emissions of DEA in 1998." The new production lines primarily use a dry machining process which does not require the use of coolants. This means that the coolant usage had not increased proportionally with the production increase experienced at the plant.

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY STILL TOP POLLUTER IN CANADA

The NPRI found that the chemical industry still ranks number one amongst the major industries in on-site releases of pollutants for 1997.
The Chemical and Chemical Products Industries (SIC Code 37 under Statistics Canada) released39,095 tonnes from 315 reporting facilities in Canada. This is almost twice as much as the second place paper and allied products industries (SIC 27) which released 20,098 tonnes from 01 reporting industries and third place primary metal industries (SIC 29) with 19,810 tonnes released from 108 facilities in 1997.

TOP FIVE POLLUTING SECTORS 

Ranking Type On-Site Releases (tonnes)

1. Chemical and Chemical Products 39,095
2. Paper and Allied Products 20,098
3. Primary Metal 19,810
4. Other Utility 17,757
5. Petroleum and Natural Gas 11,543

In total, all reporting industry sectors released 161,876 tonnes of NPRI listed pollutants in 1997. Most of this, 109,577 tonnes, was released to the air, representing 68 per cent of all on-site releases.

AIR RELEASES WERE THE MOST WITH 68%

On site releases to the air ranked first, with more tonnes than the other media combined.

1997 On-Site Releases to Various Media

Ranking Tonnes Percentage

1. Air 109,577 68.0%
2. Land 18,793 12.0
3. Underground
   Injection 18,225 11.3
4. Water 15,071 9.3

ONLY A 1.0% REDUCTION IN NPRI EMISSIONS BETWEEN 1996 AND 1997

Is Canada slowing down in reducing emissions to the environment?
Total on-site releases in 1997 were 126,055 tonnes, just one per cent less (1,274 tonnes) than releases in 1996. This represents a slowdown of environmental protection in Canada, particularly by the provincial governments which are primarily responsible for emissions reductions by industries within their boundaries. It calls into question the effectiveness of voluntary environmental measures such as ARET (Accelerated Reduction/Elimination of Toxics).
The voluntary measures appear to have become less effective as drivers (e.g., threat of regulation or the potential for economic instruments) have disappeared and industry losses interest.

CEPA-TOXIC AND CARCINOGENIC POLLUTANT RELEASES INCREASED 11% FROM 1996 TO 1997

Twenty-four (24) of the 176 NPRI contaminants are listed as "toxic and potentially carcinogenic" under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). These are tracked separately by NPRI. In 1997 the CEPA-toxic and carcinogenic contaminants releases were 15,560 tonnes, up 11.0 per cent from 14,034 tonnes in 1996. Approximately 52.0 per cent of the releases were to the air and 33.0 per cent to land. The largest emitter of CEPA-toxic and carcinogenic contaminants was the primary metals industry (SIC 29) which includes the steel industry. In 1997, the primary metals sector emitted 3,562 tonnes, up 3.4 per cent from the 1996 releases of 3,446 tonnes. The other major industries sectors releasing CEPA- toxic contaminants are mining, plastics and the chemical industries.
Large increases in CEPA-toxic and carcinogenic contaminants were registered in vinyl chloride, 44.0 tonnes in 1997 up 142.6 per cent from 1995 (18.1 tonnes). The contaminant 1,2-Dichloroethane increased to 19.6 tonnes in 1997, up 223.0 per cent from 6.1 tonnes in 1995. 
The largest releases of CEPA-toxic contaminants in 1997 were arsenic at 1,949,102 tonnes, asbestos with 2,978,618 tonnes, Dichloromethane at 2,417,716, and lead at 1,324,465 tonnes.

ALBERTA POLLUTION RELEASES UP 12.6% Per Cent

Between 1995 and 1997, total on-site releases in Alberta increased 12.6 per cent from 36,945.5 tonnes in 1995 to 41,586.4 tonnes in 1997 (based on matched data). The largest increases were to land 210.6 per cent and underground injection, 30.2 per cent. Alberta on-site releases of CEPA-toxic and carcinogenic contaminants increased even more, by 189.1 per cent from 1,446.4 tonnes in 1995 to 4,182.3 tonnes in 1997. Most of the increase came from discharges to land which increased 10-fold from 300.4 tonnes in 995 to 3,019.0 in 1997.

CANADA'S THREE LARGEST EMISSION INCREASES WERE REPORTED BY FACILITIES IN ALBERTA

Alberta, which has cut its environmental protection budget by over 32 per cent and has worked to cut its environmental regulations by 50 per cent "in order to reduce delays and regulatory red tape" for industrial activity, has reported the three largest increases amongst industrial facilities in Canada. The three largest are Browning Ferris waste management in Calgary, Agrium Inc., in Redwater, and Syncrude in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Agrium Inc., for example, is one of the largest producers of nitrogen fertilizers in North America. Four of these nitrogen plants are located in Western Canada using natural gas as the primary feedstock for the nitrogen fertilizer. See website http://www.agrium.com/

SUNCOR AND SYNCRUDE TAR SANDS PLANTS MAJOR EMITTERS

Substantial emission are coming from the Syncrude Canada Ltd. 
and Suncor Energy Inc. oil sands facilities. For example, Suncor's oil sands operations in Fort McMurray, Alberta ranked first across Canada in 1997 for emissions of both toluene and 1,2,4-Trimethyl benzene. The plant released 408.8 tonnes of toluene, 50 per cent more than second place General Motors Oshawa plant with 342.6 tonnes. The Suncor Fort McMurray plant ranked first in releases of 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene with 228 tonnes. That is more than twice as much as second place Ford Motor Co.'s Oakville, Ontario plant with 78.4 tonnes. The Syncrude oil sands plant in Fort McMurray placed third with 58.9 tonnes of 1,2,4-Tricmethylbenzene. Syncrude was also the second largest emitter of sulphuric acid in Canada at 786.7 tonnes, behind first place INCO Ltd., Sudbury, Ontario operation with 3,893.8 tonnes in 1997. Syncrude was also third in releases of propylene at 86.5 tonnes and third in releases of naphthalene at 4.42 tonnes. Suncor in Fort McMurray also registered first in releases of Molybedenum trioxide with 3.3 tonnes in 1997.

Suncor and Syncrude ranked first and third respectively amongst all industries and industry sectors in releases of ethyl benzene. Suncor released 95.8 tonnes and Syncrude 66.5 tonnes. Between them in second place was the Standard Products rubber plant in Stratford, Ontario with 78 tonnes in 1997. Syncrude ranked first in releases of Cumene with 14.9 tonnes and Suncor ranked third in emissions of Cyclohexane with 366.8 tonnes, behind the Nova Chemicals and Bayer Inc. operations in the "Chemical Valley" of Ontario on the St. Clair River between Sarnia and Corunna.

TRANSALTA'S SUNDANCE COAL FIRED ELECTRICITY STATION IN DUFFIELD, ALBERTA

NPRI is beginning to show that the coal-fired plants across Canada are major polluters. One of the problems is that the plants, particularly the Crown Corporation plants of Ontario Hydro (in Lambton, Nanticoke and Lakeview) have not been reporting adequately all of their possible emissions. One of the coal-fired plants reporting well is TransAlta Utilities Corporation plant in Duffield, Alberta. It placed first in releases of cobalt with 7.7 tonnes. It placed second in emissions of asbestos with 55.0 tonnes in 1997. It placed fourth in releases of Chromium with 38.3 tonnes. It ranked second in emissions of Hydrogen fluoride with 383 tonnes, just behind Alcan's aluminum smelter in Kitimat, B.C. with 425.5 tonnes. TransAlta ranked second in emissions of manganese with 315.7 tonnes, behind first place Lake Erie Steel in Nanticoke, Ontario with 448.8 tonnes in 1997. It also ranked second in releases of nickel with 35.5 tonnes, behind the large INCO Ltd., nickel mining and smelting operations in Sudbury, Ontario. Most of TransAlta's releases are to land.

FIVE COMPANIES WITH LARGEST INCREASES IN CANADA

Facility Tonnes Pollutant % Increase

1. Browning Ferris, Calgary 2,269 Asbestos 356.0% 2. Agrium Inc., Redwater, 1,519 Ammonia 35.3 3. Syncrude Ltd., 1,431 Ammonia 215.0 4. Nanticoke Coal Stn. Ont. 884 Hydrochloric acid 35.9 5. Graphic Packaging, Miss.,Ont 756 Methanol 2,800.0%

ONTARIO RELEASES DOWN 16.3%, QUEBEC DOWN 14.7%

On the positive side, companies in Ontario reduced their overall emissions16.3 per cent from 56,130.2 tonnes in 1995 to 46,978.6 tonnes in 1997. This includes a 63.5 reduction in water discharges and a 5.8 per cent reduction in NPRI air contaminants. Quebec reports a reduction of 14.7 per cent in on-site releases from 20,888.9 tonnes in 1995 to 17,826.3 tonnes in 1997. And like Ontario, Quebec's largest reductions were registered in water pollution 49.9 per cent and in air pollution with a reduction of 6.9 per cent.

CELANESE CANADA AND DOW CHEMICAL AMONGST LARGEST POLLUTERS REPORTED BY NPRI

Celanese Canada Inc. plants in Alberta and Ontario were leaders in major on-site releases of NPRI contaminants. For example, Celanese Canada registered first and second place in releases of acetaldehyde and acetone. First place was held by the Celanese Edmonton, Alberta facility with 93.6 tonnes of acetaldehyde and 1,414 tonnes of acetone. 
It was far ahead of other polluters like Avenor with three plants reporting total releases of 48.4 tonnes of acetaldehyde and General Motors with its Oshawa plant in third place with 740 tonnes of acetone.

The Celanese Edmonton facility also ranked first in emissions of tert-butyl alcohol with 80.74 tonnes, far ahead of second place Bayer Inc.'s Sarnia operation with 11.35 tonnes. The Celanese Millhaven plant in Ernestown, Ontario ranked first in releases of 1,4-Dioxane with 2.9 tonnes in 1997. Celanese's Edmonton facility ranked first in methanol on-site releases with 2,377.6 tonnes; twice as much as second place Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd., in Saint John, New Brunswick with 995.9 tonnes. The Edmonton plant also ranked first in releases of methyl ethyl ketone at 984.1 tonnes and first in vinyl acetate at 186.1 tonnes, more than twice as much as second place AT Plastics Inc., in Edmonton, with 84.6 tonnes vinyl acetate. The Celanese Canada Millhaven plant in Ernestown, Ontario ranked third in emissions of biphenyls at 2.0 tonnes in 1997.

DOW CHEMICAL

Dow Chemical Canada Inc. plants in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta and North Vancouver, B.C. ranked first and second, respectively in discharges of 1,2-Dichloroethane; 17.4 tonnes from the Fort Saskatchewan operation and 2.1 tonnes from the North Vancouver operation. Dow Chemical, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta ranked first in ethylene emissions with 231.2 tonnes and the Dow Chemical Sarnia plant ranked second with 218.5 tonnes of ethylene. Fort Saskatchewan also ranked third in emissions of ethylene oxide with 3.9 tonnes following first place Union Carbide Canada Inc., Prentiss Ethylene Glycol Plant in Alberta at 4.6 tonnes. The Dow Chemical plant in Sarnia also ranked first in releases of propylene oxide with 7.75 tonnes. Dow Chemical ranked the top three in releases of Chloroethane, first place being its Fort Saskatchewan plant with 61.1 tonnes, second place the Dow Varennes plant in Quebec with 54.4 tonnes and third the Weston, Ontario plant with 49.2 tonnes.

IMPROVED REPORTING FROM UTILITIES SECTOR

The generation of electricity is know for being one of the largest emitters of air pollution in North America. Unfortunately, its reporting methodologies were not satisfactory. And after strong encouragement from Environment Canada, the electricity utilities sector (SIC 4111 and 4911) changed is mass balance reporting formulas to more accurately reflect reality. Between 1996 and 1997 the 47 utilities reported an increase of 69 per cent (12,632 tonnes) in on-site releases, primarily of hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid, and hydrogen fluoride from coal-fired power plants. 
Total on-site releases of the power utilities in 1997 were 17,603.2 tonnes.

Copyright (c) 2000 Canadian Institute for
Business and the Environment, Montreal & Toronto
All rights reserved.

Translate this page automatically.