Roughly 90% of the 5.5 billion kilograms of toxic pollutant releases and transfers reported in North America in 2005 can be traced to just 30 substances from 15 industrial sectors across the United States, Canada and Mexico, according to the latest tri-national pollution report from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).
"Taking Stock 2005," released Thursday, is a comprehensive picture of pollution reporting from North American industrial facilities.
The United States accounted for about 82% of all reporting facilities, Canada 12%, and Mexico 6%.
"Taking Stock 2005 presents the clearest view ever of industrial pollution in North America, and confirms the progress in pollution management that we have tracked for the past decade," said Adrián Vázquez-Gálvez, CEC’s executive director. "However, it also reveals some major blind spots. This information is critical to government, industry, and communities, and highlights issues of comparability and areas for further action on pollution reduction to address potential environmental and human health issues."
The report shows that the principal contributors to pollutant releases and transfers reported in each country were:
- Oil and gas extraction activities, primary metals and wastewater treatment in Canada
- Metal mines, electric utilities and electrical equipment manufacturing in Mexico
- Chemicals manufacturing, primary metals and mines in the United States
An in-depth look at the North American petroleum industry in this year’s report reveals that the industry reported about 1.5 billion kilograms-or one-quarter-of the 5.5 billion kilograms of toxic pollutants reported by all sectors in 2005. The industry was also responsible for 10% of the 32 billion kilograms of criteria air contaminants released across North America in 2005.
Analysis of 2002-2005 reporting by Canadian and US petroleum refineries and bulk storage terminals discloses that, on average, about 7 million kilograms of carcinogens and developmental or reproductive toxicants were released annually. Most of these pollutants were released to air and water.
The perspective of this year’s report remains incomplete, however–a result of national differences in pollutant and industry sector coverage and compliance, CEC said. Comparing the national petroleum industry profiles also reveals one of the most important such gaps in pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTR) reporting across the three countries.
Hydrogen sulfide gas, a toxic pollutant having the smell of rotten eggs, is a common byproduct of oil and gas extraction and processing. PRTR regulations in both Canada and Mexico require hydrogen sulfide to be reported. In Canada, hydrogen sulfide from the oil and gas production sector represented over 90% of all toxics reported by the Canadian petroleum industry in 2005. In Mexico, however, no data on this substance were reported by the petroleum industry. In the United States, neither this pollutant nor the oil and gas production sector is subject to Toxics Release Inventory reporting requirements.
The report also discusses pollutants that were transferred across national borders. The majority of these consisted of metals such as lead, zinc, copper and nickel compounds, mainly sent to recycling facilities. A small number of other chemicals, such as sulfuric acid, phosphorus, and xylenes, were also sent across borders for recycling or other treatment.
Taking Stock compiles data from the three pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs) in North America: Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), the United States’ Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), and Mexico’s Registro de Emisiones y Transferencia de Contaminantes (RETC).
The Taking Stock Online website (link below) allows users to further explore PRTR data for North America with customized reports by pollutant, facility, sector or geographic region. Taking Stock Online also provides interactive mapping of data search results using Google Maps, and features a North America-wide map layer displaying point-specific industrial pollutant data in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Using the Google Earth mapping service, the CEC’s map layer displays about 35,000 North American industrial facilities that reported releases and transfers of pollutants in 2005.
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