PCBs `R' Us
Is Kirkland Lake set to become international centre for PCB waste?

HighGrader Magazine September/October 1999
by Charlie Angus
Trans Cycle Industries (TCI) had a problem. The Alabama-based company had secured a contract with the U.S. Overseas Armed Services to process PCBs from American bases in Japan. But with the U.S. border firmly closed to the importation of PCB waste, TCI (with plants in Pell City, Alabama and Hudson, New York) could only imagine and dream.
To be sure, there were parts of the Japanese contracts TCI could handle. Under U.S. law, parts originally manufactured in the U.S. and shipped overseas could be shipped to Alabama, but other contaminated items, like those purchased by the U.S. government in Japan, were off-limits.
Which was too bad, since the 130,000 kilos of toxic goodies could represent the start of a lucrative business processing waste from bases all over the Pacific rim Guam, South Korea, the Philippines. But why stop there? Think of all non-military PCBs stacked up in OECD and Basel Convention countries?
The sky was limit, providing they had a plant outside the US of A.
Such was the situation facing TCI when they made the announcement that they were looking to open a branch plant in job-starved Kirkland Lake, Ontario. That was early in 1998. But in the rush to get the Kirkland plant up and running, company President David Laskin never got around to mentioning the fact that TCI had secured the Japanese contract.
An understandable oversight, perhaps. After all, TCI certainly seemed gung-ho at the opportunities awaiting in Northern Ontario. Laskin told the assembled dignitaries at the project's unveiling in May, 1998, that Kirkland Lake was "a central location" for dealing with customers "in the mining and pulp and paper industries."
Laskin's optimism played well in Kirkland Lake. The town had been plagued by mine closings and was smarting from the reputation as Canada's soon-to-be garbage capital (thanks to the controversial Adams Mine landfill).
TCI were quick to dispel worries about PCB contaminants. Pointing to their plant in Penn City, Alabama, TCI could brag that it was a company that did the job right. At the Kirkland Lake operation, PCB contaminated parts from old transformers and the like would be washed down in solvent solutions and the metals recycled. The remaining 5% contaminants would then be shipped out to the giant incinerator in Swan Hill, Alberta.
Laskin was keen to get Provincial approval to operate a facility that would serve "all the Provinces of Canada." Kirkland Lake was keen to get the 68 jobs promised. The Feds were keen to help diversify Temiskaming's stricken economy. They tossed in a $1.25 million forgivable loan to help sweeten TCI's appetite for the north.

Now, just a year after being in operation in Canada, TCI is singing the Canadian-only blues. TCI claims that even though Ontario is awash with PCB waste, the Province seems to have little interest in pushing for their destruction. As a result, TCI claims that the Kirkland Lake plant is working far below capacity.
So who can blame them for turning to their contract with the US Overseas Service? All it would take to get the business rolling is what TCI describes as a "minor" amendment on their certificate of approval. You know, scratch out Canada under the service area and write in "receive PCB materials from other Basel (signatories to the Basel Convention on the exporting of toxic waste -- ed.) and OECD countries."
Which begs the question, was the original application for a Canada-only license just meant to get the foot in the door and allow TCI to benefit from softer Canadian laws?
Hardly, says TCI lawyer Michael Zarin. Speaking from his office in Westchester, New York, Mr. Zarin explains that it was just one of those bureaucratic mix-ups that led TCI to initially ask for a Canada-only license, when in fact, they wanted a world-wide license.
"You know, frankly we thought we did (fill out an application for international approval). But the MOEE (Ministry of Environment and Energy) claimed this wasn't clear on our original application. This is why we are going back now to amend it."
Ian Parrott is with the Approvals Branch at the Ministry. He says there was no mix-up. "I can't tell you what they thought they were applying for but I can tell you what they did apply for, and what they were approved for, and that was Canada."
No matter. With an amendment to their cachement area now before the Approvals Branch, and the 30-day public comment period safely passed, TCI seems well on their way to getting approval to become an international receiver of PCB-contaminated metals.
Michael Zarin says its no big deal.
"It's not as if there is going to be any new environmental impact from amending our application. The environment is not aware of whether you are treating PCBs from Ontario or from Mexico."
Brennain Lloyd of the environmental watchdog Northwatch is less than impressed with TCI's view.
"TCI touted this plant as a way of serving regional needs. They came here as a foreign company and chose to set up shop. If their business expectations haven't been met I don't think it should come as a surprise to them."
Lloyd is concerned that if TCI is given approval to change their cachement area from Canada to all OECD and Basel convention countries, it will open the floodgates to PCB waste in Ontario.
"If they intended on taking this waste from Japan and Mexico, they should have said so from the beginning. I find that TCI's attitude is very high-handed. They presume to lecture us as environmentalists and global citizens about how we should be welcoming these PCBs into Northern Ontario because they have such a great facility and other facilities might not be able to handle it as a well."
The TCI application has also raised the hackles of John Jackson of the Citizen's Network on Waste Management.
Speaking from his office in Kitchener, Ontario, Jackson laughs and says, "Yah, right," at the suggestion that this is a minor amendment.
"PCBs are among the most hazardous substances. Japan is a technologically, sophisticated country. Why don't they deal with the problem there rather than run the risk of transporting PCBs across the ocean and across such a huge distance with the added risk this brings of a spill? As well, it will mean moving the concentrated PCBs out of Kirkland Lake across Northern Ontario to Alberta."
With speculation afoot that the Japanese deal may only be the tip of the PCB-iceberg, Jackson's group has appealed to the Ministry not to approve the application amendment.
Open Border
TCI's "minor amendment" would also mean the opening of the Canadian border to PCB waste. Until 1997, Canada's border, like the American border, was firmly closed to imports and exports of PCBs. But in 1997, the Feds, fearing NAFTA retaliation, apparently backed down. Up until now, however, no company or province has decided to test the gray waters.
TCI's bid comes at a time when the Province of Ontario is taking serious heat for its open-door policy on hazardous waste. Ontario is by far the largest producer of hazardous waste in Canada, with a dramatic growth in the amount of waste being reported in the last four years.
The Province is also smarting from having been designated the second-worst polluter in all of North America by the Commission of Environmental Co Operation.
In May, the Sierra Legal Defense Fund charged that the number of violations for air pollution in Ontario tripled over three years, while the number of charges laid plummeted (according to the Sierra folks, of the 1,000 violations in 1997 there were four charges laid, of the 3,000 charges in 1998, only two charges laid).
And now the Province is facing accusations that it is becoming the continent's chemical dumping ground of choice. Since the Conservatives came to power in 1990, hazardous waste shipments from the United States into Ontario has skyrocketed. In 1993, hazardous waste imports stood at 85,000 tonnes. Within four years, that total had risen three times to 230,000 tonnes.
Mark Winfield is with the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy. He authored a damning report of Ontario's new "open for waste business" policy.
"The Province has opened the gates. They've given the green light to any hazardous waste imports to Ontario. We are certainly becoming a continental dumping ground."
Winfield says part of the move to export American waste comes from more stringent rules south of the border.
"The signal from the Province is that anything will get approved. The Ministry of Environment has lost its ability to regulate this because they've lost about a third of their staff and 40% of their budget. Ontario is a very attractive place to dispose of wastes cheaply."
A recent article in the Ottawa Citizen (by April Lundgren) accuses Ontario of becoming "Mexico North." The article quotes Detroit -based waste operator David Lusk as saying, "You can go to Canada to dispose of materials with standards that would put people in jail here in the United States."
What worries Mark Winfield, however, is that as Ontario's capacity to treat toxic materials grows, so will the market. Such is the case, for example, with the PCB incinerator in Swan Hill, Alberta. Originally built to solve Alberta's PCB problems, the incinerator quickly became an importer of PCBs. Despite being plagued by environmental criticism, the Swan Hill incinerator has become an ugly, if not permanent, fact of life in Alberta.
Ontario is now becoming a competitor in the world of incineration. Winfield points to the recent building of a PCB incinerator in Northumberland County and the planned building of another incinerator in Cornwall.
"Once you start building the capacity to destroy PCBs, you become a place where other places send their PCBs to be destroyed. This carries all kinds of risks both in terms of transportation and the health risks due to incineration."
Winfield claims that the expansion taking place across Ontario is being done without the benefits of a full Environmental Assessment process.
"With the gutting of the Environmental Assessment process it becomes extremely difficult for local residents to mount an effective case against these proposals. You need a technical background to deal with these issues and without intervenor funding, it becomes difficult for residents to make a case. Also, because these proposals are no longer routinely designated under the Environmental Assessment Act, many of the important questions, such as whether this is appropriate technology, or if other alternatives have been examined, are taken off the table before the discussion even starts."
Northern residents, already ten years into a battle against a mega-dump for urban waste at Kirkland Lake's Adams Mine, as well carrying on the ongoing fight against the burying of nuclear waste, might feel they are being unfairly targeted in the new Ontario. Winfield says this is not so.
"Traditionally you would see these proposals in economically-stressed and geographically-isolated communities. But the strange thing in Ontario is that we are seeing places like Sarnia, Cornwall, Northumberland County being targeted. Anywhere but Toronto. I think this is because the government is saying, `We won't designate you under the EA, you're not going to face stringent opposition, the local community is not going to have the means to oppose you and the Ministry of Environment is not going to come forward. Come on in.'"

Box Insert

Where's the Logic?
Ontario Firm left out of PCB bonanza
Ironically, with so many waste-handling companies taking an interest in Ontario, one Ontario-based company has had to look elsewhere for work.
Eco-Logic, based out of Rockwood, Ontario, has gained international recognition for their ability to destroy PCB waste without incineration. The technology relies on hydrogen to break down PCB molecules without the risk of releasing toxins through incineration.
The company has received rave reviews from many environmental organizations, both for the technology and also for the fact that the company is capable of destroying contaminants at the site, which lessens the risk of spills due to transportation.
Eco Logic has a plant operating in Australia and the ability to set up mobile operations whenever a contract warrants one. But according to company spokesperson Beth Kummling, Eco Logic has no plans for expansion in their home province.
"There just isn't a market here. There is a lot of PCB waste but people are happy to send it to Swan Hill. We aren't more expensive than incineration, we just find that it is difficult to compete with entrenched ideas. We have had to move into markets where incineration isn't allowed."
One of those markets is Japan. Kummling admits she was taken aback by news that the U.S. government had opted to ship PCB waste out of Japan to TCI's facilities.
"It's an interesting problem because here we are doing work in Japan and the PCBs are in Japan but they wanted to send it to the United States. But they can't because American law prohibits it so they are taking it to Canada when a Canadian firm is trying to do work over there. I find the whole thing quite curious."

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