Transcript Slide 1

Canadian Environmental Law Association
Promoting Right-to-Know
Promoting
Right Release
to Knowand
through Pollution
TransferPollution
Registry: Release
through
A Canadian
perspective
and
TransferNGO
Registry:
A CanadianFeNGO
perspective
de Leon, Canadian Environmental Law
Association
Fe de Leon, Canadian Environmental Law Association
Presented at the Public Meeting of the
Commission
Environmental
Cooperation’s
Presented
at theon
Public
Meeting of the
Commission on
Environmental
Cooperation’s
American
Pollutant
North American
PollutantNorth
Release
and Transfer
Release
andProject
Transfer Register Project
Register
Washington D.C., USA
Washington D.C., USA
November 4, 2010
November 4, 2010
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Outline
• Who is CELA?
• How has CELA used PRTR data
• What is PollutionWatch?
• Recommendations
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Who is the
Canadian Environmental Law Association?
• Non-profit, public interest organization founded in 1970
• Goals: use existing laws to protect the environment and
advocate environmental law reforms
• Funded by Legal Aid Ontario
• Representing citizens or citizens’ groups that cannot afford
legal assistance
• Free legal advisory clinic
• Educational and law reform projects
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Uses for PRTR data?
• Promote community right to know
• Support policy reform activities for
environmental protection
• Identify and scope policy issues
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Promote community right to know
•
CELA used PRTR data to advocate for development or expansion of
right to know programs at the federal, provincial and local levels
•
Worked collaboratively with local groups that promote disclosure and
transparency on pollution data in North America
EXAMPLES:
• “Making the Links” Project - working with six communities throughout
Ontario to increase capacity of, and knowledge-exchange between,
residents, legal service providers, health service providers, and others
interested in environmental health issues
• Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin community
• Local groups – British Columbia and New Brunswick
•
Development of tools for outreach
EXAMPLE: PollutionWatch web site allows people access pollution release
and transfer data in Canada at all levels
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Support policy reform activities
• All levels of government
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Promote pollution reduction and elimination strategies for toxic
chemicals
• Provincial level
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Promote creation of Toxic Reduction Act in Province of Ontario –
calling for pollution prevention plans on specific pollutants
• Municipal level
–
Support the development of City of Toronto Public Environmental
Disclosure and Reporting Program
• Regional/International
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Seek improvements for the restoration and protection of Great
Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Identify and scope policy issues
• Design projects to highlight potential research
areas or policy needs
– Investigating relationship between pollution
and income in Canada
• Fill in knowledge gaps – Great Lakes reports
Canadian Environmental Law Association
What is PollutionWatch?
• Interactive web-based tool for accessing
information on pollution in Canada
• Created by Canadian Environmental Law
Association and Environmental Defence
• Uses data from the Canadian federal National
Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) and
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Program
Canadian Environmental Law Association
www.PollutionWatch.org
• ADD Front cover of PollutionWatch
Canadian Environmental Law Association
PollutionWatch Features
• Enhanced community right to know:
– Health effects lists
– Ranking (by company, facility, sector, pollutant,
province, Great Lakes, health effects, etc.)
– Time trends
– Action tools – email facilities or fax Minister
– Mapping based on postal codes
– Pollution overviews
• Special reports produced
– National reports
– Great Lakes reports (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010)
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Special report
Great Lakes report
June 2005
Use 2002 NPRI data
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Special report
Great Lakes report
2006
Use 2002 matched
NPRI and TRI data
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Special report
Great Lakes Report
December 2009
Use 2007 NPRI data
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Special report
Great Lakes report
April 2010
Use 2007 matched NPRI
and TRI data
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Special report
Socio economic report
November 2008
Use 2005 NPRI data and
2001 Statistics Canada
income data
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Benefits of Special Reports
• GIS mapping (socio-economic report, Great Lakes report)
• Compare Canadian and US pollution levels (Great Lakes reports)
• Produce pollution reports for collaborating with NGO
community on issues of common interest (Great Lakes, drinking
water source protection, promote reduction and elimination of
toxic chemicals)
• Support organizational mandate as a legal aid
–
Example, socio economic report
• Outreach to other organizations and agencies that focus on poverty
reduction
• Contribute to the CELA’s “Making the Links” Project in Ontario
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Making PRTR data useful :
Recommendations
1.
Improve access to pollution information (outreach and
program design
Expand and improve existing PRTR programs such as NPRI and
TRI
2.
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3.
reduce thresholds for reporting to PRTR programs;
Presentation and usability of data;
expand chemicals list (incl. GHG), facilities and sectors covered
by the program;
review methods for measuring releases and transfer data,
expand facilities and sectors reporting to programs
Expand the scope of the annual CEC Taking Stock report
•
•
reinstate ranking feature for North American jurisdictions to
allow for comparisons
Add new analysis
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Recommendations continued….
4.
Strengthen links between use of PRTR data and improving
chemicals management policy in North
America/internationally (Stockholm Convention on POPs,
Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution, on-going
international negotiations for global mercury treaty, etc.)
5.
Prepare comparative reports on special themes
(implementation of pollution prevention, progress on
reducing/eliminating mercury or specifically targeted
chemicals, health effects, etc.)
6.
Explore how PRTR data can be used to promote use of safe
substitutes for toxic chemicals
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Contact
Fe de Leon
Canadian Environmental Law Association
130 Spadina Ave., Ste. 301
Toronto, ON
M5V 2L4
Tel.: 416.960.2284 ext. 223
Fax: 416.960-9392
[email protected]
www.cela.ca