Enclosed for your information is a copy of a newspaper article regarding a
study by the Canadian Federal Department of the Environment which concludes
that the environmentalists have been right all along. The effluent from
bleached kraft pulp mills is indeed toxic.
Daishowa's Peace River bleached kraft pulp mill, the one which threatens the
very existence of the traditional Lubicon society with massive clear-cutting
of unceded Lubicon lands starting as early as this fall, is the largest
hardwood bleached kraft pulp mill in Canada. It produces 1,000 metric tons of
dehydrated bleached kraft pulp per day and is "licensed" by the Alberta
Provincial Government to dump an average of over 20 tons of suspended solids
daily into the scenic Peace River. This capacity to both produce and pollute
is scheduled to double by 1993.
An official for the Federal Environment Department told reporters that the
government study recommends neither standards nor specific measures, leaving
it solely to the discretion Federal Environment Minister "to decide on an
appropriate response". It's of course not very likely that the government
scientists who prepared the report decided on their own to leave the question
of appropriate standards and recommended remedial measures purely to the
imagination of the Federal Environment Minister.
Once again making the Mulroney Government's industry-driven definition of the
public interest crystal clear -- these are after all the same people who
knowingly approved the sale of tainted fish to unsuspecting consumers in the
name of not "damaging" the Maritime fishing industry -- the Federal
Environment official told reporters that THE COST OF NOT POISONING PEOPLE
"will have to be taken into account". It's unlikely, the Federal Environment
official said in an obvious attempt to placate possibly concerned pulp mill
owners, that the Canadian Government will ever take any measures which would
force the closure of such mills.
Arguing that the pulp and paper industry is able to adequately regulate
itself, especially in light of so-called "market pressures" (operationally
defined in this case as a consumer boycott of bleached paper products), an
official of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association suggested that the
Canadian Government should simply rely on "voluntary efforts by industry
rather than using regulations". In this regard, the industry official noted,
the "average amount" of poison being dumped into Canadian waters by pulp mills
is "less than half the level of about five years ago". (Somehow being told
that you're only being poisoned half as fast isn't very reassuring.)
Japan's predominant role in deforesting the world is deservedly well known.
Daishowa is Japan's second largest forestry company. The Peace River pulp
mill is Daishowa's largest overseas "investment".
The embattled Lubicons are smack dab in the middle of the road to achieving an
totally uninhabitable planet. It's up to people concerned about the
inextricable plight of the Lubicons and the planet to determine whether this
fall the Lubicons represent just another tragic casualty of continuing,
basically colonialistic exploitation of the world's resources, or perhaps some
kind of more hopeful turning point.
* * * * *
Re-printed from THE EDMONTON JOURNAL, Thursday, July 18, 1991
PULP MILL EFFLUENT IS TOXIC -- STUDY
Organochlorides a potential threat to humans, scientists say
Dennis Bueckert
The Canadian Press
Ottawa
Effluent from pulp mills that use bleaching is toxic even if dioxins are
removed, a two-year assessment by scientists at the Environment Department has
concluded.
The study says that compounds known as organochlorines, discharged as
byproducts of bleaching, represent a potential threat to human health.
It is the first official federal confirmation of what environmentalists have
been saying for about 10 years.
The study has been submitted to Environment Minister Jean Charest but not
publicly released. It was summarized by a federal official involved in its
preparation.
The assessment, carried out under the terms of the Canadian Environmental
Assessment Act, recommends controls on organochlorines, but does not suggest
precise standards.
"They (the scientists) recommend controls of one form or another, but they
don't say in what form those controls will be," said the official, who
declined to be named.
He said it's up to the minister to decide on an appropriate response, and
costs to industry will have to be taken into account. Ottawa is unlikely to
take measures that would force mills to close, he added.
Industry officials have warned that tight controls on organochlorines could
impose huge costs beyond the $4 billion to $5 billion they are already
spending to virtually eliminate dioxins and furans.
A spokesman for the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association declined to comment on
the report, saying she had not seen it.
Under the environmental assessment act, a toxicity assessment is the first
step toward new regulations. But Ottawa may choose to rely on voluntary
efforts by industry rather than using regulations.
The official noted that industry has already made progress in reducing
chlorine use, partly due to market pressures. More consumers are demanding
unbleached paper products.
The average amount of organochlorines released from bleaching mills across
Canada is about three kilograms per tonne of pulp, less than half the level of
about five years ago, he said.
Pulp mills use bleaching to produce white paper products.