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by Greenpeace Press Release

“The decision the government must make is clear,” said Dr. Darryl Luscombe, Greenpeace toxics campaigner. “Canada should not accept responsibility for the disposal of PCB waste from the U.S. military. We should not be importing the US Department of Defense’s toxic waste problems.”

The shipment, scheduled to arrive in Vancouver on April 7, is part of a massive stockpile of U.S toxic waste stored in military bases in Japan and other foreign countries. Containing transformers and other electrical equipment, this shipment will be trucked to Trans Cycle Industries (TCI) in Kirkland Lake, Ontario.

“The problem is, TCI doesn’t have a permit to import PCB-contaminated waste,” said Dr. Luscombe. “So the question is, what’s the Canadian government going to do? Surely this renegade U.S. company must be prevented from importing its deadly cargo.”

TCI, which set up its Ontario operation with the help of a $1.25 million grant from the HRDC Jobs Transition Fund, is a subsidiary of an Alabama-based U.S. waste disposal company. The TCI system does not destroy PCBs, it merely extracts them from the wastes then sends the concentrated PCBs to Swan Hills, Alberta for incineration. The Ontario plant was set up to get around U.S. restrictions preventing import of PCBs for destruction or disposal.

However, on December 24, 1999, the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy rejected the TCI application to import PCBs, saying the project “could result in a hazard to the health or safety of the public”, and was “not in the public interest”.

“It’s a ludicrous situation,” said Dr. Luscombe. “A U.S. operation sets up in Ontario to import U.S. military PCB waste into Canada ­ with no lawful right to do so.” TCI has appealed the decision denying its permit, but the hearing is not scheduled until May 8 to 12 ­ and no permit allowing the company to take delivery of this shipment will be issued before the hearing.

TCI has been quoted in the press as claiming that the levels of PCBs in the waste are less than 50 parts per million and are therefore exempt from any regulatory restrictions in Canada.

However, according to U.S. Defense Department documents obtained by Greenpeace, the concentration of PCBs in the wastes is not based on actual testing of the wastes, but is based on “labels and user knowledge”.

Under the Basel Convention ­ the international treaty which governs the shipment of hazardous wastes around the world ­ there is only an obligation to obtain prior informed consent from the country receiving the PCBs when the levels of PCBs in the waste exceed 50 part per million. However there are no part per million exemptions for dioxins and furans, which are almost always found as contaminants in PCB waste.

“Although it appears the shipment has been deliberately restricted to lower levels of PCB concentration to avoid import restrictions, the government must also determine whether this waste also contains deadly dioxins and furans,” Dr. Luscombe said. “Not only does TCI appear to be sneaking this U.S. military waste in the backdoor, they may also be violating Canada’s international obligations on the shipment of hazardous wastes, and that must not be allowed to happen.”

“Of greater concern is the possibility that this shipment may signal the opening of the floodgates to tens of thousands of tonnes of U.S. military wastes,” said Dr. Luscombe. “The real decision the Minister must make is whether he wants to turn Canada into the dumping ground for toxic refuse from U.S. military bases around the world.”