space Press Releases, News Stories

by Charlie Angus, Straight Goods

Ninety thousand kilos of PCB-contaminated waste from a U.S. military depot in Sagami, Japan, are expected any time in Vancouver harbour. The shipment is bound for a PCB-recycling plant in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. The plant is operated by Alabama-based Trans Cycle Industries (TCI).

News of the shipment has caught many in the environmental community, and apparently within Ontario's Ministry of Environment (MOEE), by surprise. Just three months ago, the MOEE turned down TCI's bid to open its market from Canadian waste to international traffic.

The feds decided not to ban PCB imports into Canada for fear of NAFTA retaliation

Mark Winfield of the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy says he is not sure how TCI can proceed with the shipment. Unless, as Winfield says, "...they are trying to argue they are completely outside the regulatory bubble. If the shipment was not acceptable to the MOEE then Environment Canada should have been made aware of this and an import permit should not have been issued and the stuff should not be moving out of Japan."

TCI's lawyer, Michael Zarin, however, maintains that because the shipment falls under 50 parts per million (ppm) it is not subject to any regulatory approval by the Feds. "It's not regulated. It's not considered hazardous waste... We don't need a license. We don't need to talk to nobody." Zarin also confirms the shipment is going to Kirkland Lake.

Ian Parrott, of the Approvals Branch of the MOEE, however, says that the Kirkland Lake facility is only licensed to handle waste from within Canada. Says Parrott, "They can't take waste from outside of Canada. Our district office has been made aware of this situation. It's up to our district office to handle it like they handle any other infraction."

What powers do the MOEE have to stop this "infraction"? Parrott says he doesn't know.

No Permission Needed

When TCI first appeared in Kirkland Lake in late 1997, it had already secured a contract with the U.S. Overseas Service to dispose of PCB-contaminated waste. But with the American border closed to the importation of PCB waste, the company could not dispose of it in the United States.

Canada, which only had a non-official ban in place, was another story. Although no PCB imports were being allowed into the country, the Feds decided not to enshrine the ban in law for fear of NAFTA retaliation.

When TCI president David Laskin came calling to job-starved Kirkland Lake, he had little to say about TCI's international plans. Laskin talked about a plant that would deal with regional waste. Laskin said Kirkland Lake was a "central location" for recycling waste from mining, pulp and hydro operations.

In May 1998, TCI asked for and received a license to handle PCB-contaminated waste from within Canada. No mention was made of international contracts.

So keen were the Feds to get the project off the ground that they tossed in a $1.25 million gift from the taxpayers through the now notorious Jobs Transition Fund.

Within a year of being in operation, however, TCI was complaining that its much vaunted local markets hadn't materialized. With layoffs looming, news leaked out that TCI was looking to make use of its large contract with the U.S. military.

In the summer of 1999, TCI announced its Kirkland Lake plant would seek a change in its certificate of approval to allow for imports from all OECD and Basel-signatory countries. This change, which the company described as "minor", would have opened TCI's Canadian operations to potential imports from nearly 130 countries. On Christmas Eve, the MOEE gave a big thumbs down on the grounds that the project "could result in a hazard to the health or safety of the public."

Michael Zarin, speaking from his office in Westchester, New York, slammed the decision as a "knee-jerk, political response," and called it a "slap in the face" to Northern Ontario.

Interviewed by Straight Goods in January, Zarin hinted that if it wasn't allowed to import international waste, the company might pull out of Canada.

Said Zarin, "Here you have a technology that's clean, coming into Kirkland Lake and trying to put Kirkland Lake on the map internationally...and the government's decision based on a two sentence (decision) - "not in the public interest" - is going to put this in risk of closing."

Today, however, with the controversial shipment headed for Kirkland Lake, Zarin glosses over the earlier threat to close the plant. "No (we won't) close. We weren't happy but now we're doing a very good business." When asked if he thought the company would run afoul of the MOEE by shipping this waste into Kirkland Lake, Zarin said that because the shipment is under 50 ppm it isn't covered by the MOEE. "This is unregulated. It's not subject to our permit."

Ian Parrott of the Approvals Branch, however, says otherwise. "Regardless of the PCB levels in this shipment or in any other shipment, they can't take it to this facility."

When Straight Goods pressed Michael Zarin about the MOEE's position, Zarin replied, "You either misconstrued what they said or they were talking loosely. We have already been in contact with them and Environment Canada and everybody is clear that if it is under 50 ppm there are no import/export regulations."

Shot Across the Bow

On March 30, TCI will go up before a preliminary hearing of the MOEE's appeal branch. They are hoping to overturn the Ministry's ban on the importation of international PCB waste into Ontario. TCI is basing its appeal on the belief that the MOEE's decision "exceeds the authority of the Ministry of the Environment."

When asked if he thought that moving 90,000 kilos of Japanese/U.S. military waste into Kirkland Lake would jeopardize the company's chances of overturning the ban, Zarin said the shipment had nothing to do with the appeal.

Outside observers, however, are wondering whether TCI is trying to fire a shot across the bow of the Ministry. Jim Puckett of the Seattle-based Basel Action Network, which tracks the international movement of PCBs, has been watching the TCI case develop. Puckett speculates that this shipment of non-regulated waste might be a test run to gage public opposition.

"I think this shipment is just the tip of the iceberg. It could potentially swing the door open for waste flowing into Canada from all over the world." Puckett rejects the argument that metals contaminated with PCBs under 50 ppms does not need to be regulated.

"The reason TCI is making money is because the metals are contaminated with the most hazardous substances on the planet. That's where the money is. I'm sorry, these guys aren't scrap dealers."

Charlie Angus is the editor of HighGrader Magazine in Cobalt, Ontario. His latest book is the photo-collaboration, Industrial Cathedrals of the North. He is the lead singer with the Canadian folk band Grievous Angels.