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CACG Comments on Proposed Air Permit Amendment |
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January 19, 2006
Over the last two years, the ministry has been in
the process of re-writing the air permit for the Crofton mill,
providing concerned citizens with fuel for optimism. It was hoped that
finally the government was going to live up to their responsibility to
effectively regulate the air emissions from the mill.
Two thirds of all toxic release of the pulp and
paper industry is emitted to the air according to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, yet there are no Canadian provincial
or federal regulations on toxic release to the air from pulp mills -
simply guidelines and recommendations. It’s up to the Ministry of
Environment in BC to regulate through permits for each individual
facility.
The draft for a re-written permit for the Crofton mill was recently obtained from the
Ministry of Environment. The draft permit made it clear that the
provincial government was taking no steps to further regulate mill
emissions. Instead a permit has been proposed that raises the
allowable discharge of emissions for the mill and limits only the same
two substances. While limits for particulate matter have dropped
in the proposal to reflect updated equipment, there are no lower
concentrations for TRS proposed and some limits in the current permit
have disappeared altogether.
Comments from CACG on the proposed draft for the Crofton mill's permit for air emissions. |
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