#1 Proposed U.S. Environmental Law Policy Could Harm Canada's Air and Water
The United States and Canada share the world's longest undefended border and one of the world's biggest freshwater basins, but pollution doesn't respect borders. That's why Canadians should be concerned about moves in the U.S. to weaken key federal environmental laws.
Weakening the Clean Water Act and declaring southeast Michigan an "ozone attainment area" will have an alarming and immediate impact on the Great Lakes and Canada' s environment overall.
In May 1995, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill amending the Clean Water Act of 1972. In essence, the amendments lift protection for many wetlands, make regulators give greater consideration to costs before requiring water quality improvements from cities and industry, and allow states to opt out of environmental water regulations deemed too expensive or unenforceable.
The Great Lakes, home of 20 per cent of the world's fresh water supply, is particularly susceptible to these changes in several ways: The Great Lakes Initiative, requiring all eight U.S. states bordering the lakes to meet consistent water-quality standards, would become more voluntary and harder to enforce; discharges of toxic chemicals could now be measured downstream rather than at their point of discharge; industries could 'trade' reductions in some emissions for increases in others; the mandate to treat storm water before it runs into waterways would be removed; and restrictions on city and farm runoff into waterways would be relaxed.
This bill is now before the U.S. Senate (where it is mired in committees and unlikely to be dealt with before the congressional elections this fall), and Canadians are speaking out against it. While still environment minister, Sheila Copps called on the U.S. government to continue working with Canada to protect the environment and maintain strong environmental laws because these changes "...will have a devastating effect on our collective environment." Copps also commented that the bill may be vetoed. U.S. President Bill Clinton opposes efforts to weaken environmental protection and calls this bill the "dirty water act."
Environmental groups are strongly opposed to this bill. Brett Hulsey, director of the Sierra Club's Great Lakes program, said amending the Clean Water Act "basically puts the 25 million people who drink from the Great Lakes at risk. There's an increased chance of animal manure and deadly parasites in their water. There's an increased chance of PCBs and dioxins and other deadly pollutants in their fish and an increased chance of human waste fouling their beaches."
Another key change in the U.S.'s environmental policies is the declaration of southeast Michigan as an "ozone attainment area", meaning that Detroit is no longer considered to have excessive levels of ground-level ozone. This designation would relax programs to control ozone-producing emissions, while maintaining voluntary controls of that lung-damaging pollutant.
The already polluted air of Windsor will be directly affected by this decision. The Windsor Air Quality Study found that Michigan was the source of two-thirds of Windsor's airborne toxins. Similarly, a study done by Queens College in New York, and released in May 1995 found incinerators as far away from Canada as Texas, Florida and Utah are to blame for as much as 50 per cent of 17 kinds of cancer-causing dioxins that fell on the Great Lakes.
If these changes go through, Canada and the U.S.'s history of environmental co-operation will be tarnished.
Sources:
€ Breathing May be Hazardous to your Health, The Windsor Star, Nov. 18, 1994 (Ray Ford)
€ Ozone Rules for Detroit Relaxed, The Windsor Star, Feb. 14, 1995 (Chris Vander Doelen)
€ Copps Attacks U.S. Attempt to Weaken Pollution Laws, The Toronto Star, June 3, 1995 (Brian McAndrew)
PCC Researcher: Christoph Clodius
Summary of Coverage
Three stories relating to US pollution policies were carried in The Globe and Mail in 1995; one in March and two in May (all well back in the news section on pages A12, A13, A8). Regional media coverage was similarly placed and focused on then federal Environment Minister Sheila Copps reaction to the proposed changes. These stories appeared in The Montreal Gazette, Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Winnipeg Free Press, The Calgary Herald and The Vancouver Sun. The Windsor Star carried three stories directly referring to The Windsor Air Quality Study and the potential environmental impacts of a new incinerator in Michigan. CBC-Radio national coverage included discussion of US President Clinton's battle with the Republican dominated congress on the changes to the Bill (World at 6); World this Weekend coverage referred to the changes and their implications to the Great Lakes clean-up. CBC-Radio Regional (Toronto) covered the environmental study and the concern over possible US deregulation. Locally, CBC-Windsor covered the impact that the proposed changes would have on Windsor.