Tag: ontario government

Lax Enforcement in Ontario?

A new report says cutbacks in the Ontario government have led to a shortfall in monitoring for water pollution. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly has this report:

Transcript

A new report says cutbacks in the Ontario government have led to a shortfall in monitoring for water pollution. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen
Kelly reports.


The study was released by the Canadian Institute of Environmental Law and Policy.
It looked at Ontario’s pollution program for surface and groundwater over a five-year period. And it found the number of pollution discharges, spills and leaks doubled between 1994 and 99, while the number of investigations dropped. But ministry spokesman John Steele says things have changed over the last couple of years.


“Our enforcement figures are very, very good right now. I think there are about 200 additional staff of which about 150 are involved in the enforcement.”


Steele says the number of cleanup orders issued to industry increased by more than 300 percent in the last two years. But the study’s authors say the province releases little information about water pollution to the public. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.

Canadian Enviro Enforcement Criticized

An environmental lobby group in Canada says the Ontario Ministry of Environment watches industrial plants pollute the Great Lakes, but rarely enforces pollution laws. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has the details:

Transcript

An environmental lobby group in Canada says the Ontario Ministry of Environment watches industrial plants pollute the Great Lakes, but rarely enforces pollution laws. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports.


Between 1995 and 1999, polluters’ violated Ontario’s water pollution laws ten thousand times, but only eleven plants faced any penalties. Elaine McDonald is a staff scientist with the Sierra Legal Defense Fund, based in Toronto, which published a report on the findings. She says the problem started when the government cut the Ministry of Environment’s budget by about 40-percent:


“This resulted in lax enforcement in the field and– basically a policy of lax enforcement and therefore we saw this sudden increase in violations and very few charged being made.”


The Sierra Legal Defense Fund is calling on the Ontario government to crack down on Great Lakes polluters. The environmentalists say they do see signs of improvement, with more charges being filed in recent months against repeat pollution offenders. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Lester Graham.