May 17, 2024 – Today the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued an order to the petrochemical industry in Sarnia area that stores and processes benzene, using section 94 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).
Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) supports the use of this section of CEPA in circumstances where the substance is not adequately controlled and presents a significant risk to public health.
Last summer CELA was asked to provide in depth public legal education to the Aamjiwnaang First Nation community on air quality issues and how well they are regulated. We noted that benzene was very poorly controlled; emissions were high; and part of the problem was fugitive emissions from companies handling Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC’s).
Accordingly, when ECCC issued a notice on the Canada Gazette in January, with a proposed regulation to control VOCs from petro-chemical processing facilities, CELA was strongly supportive. While calling for some strengthening of that regulation, we nevertheless applaud regulatory action in this realm.
For far too long too much impact from adverse air quality, including highly toxic carcinogens such as benzene, has been imposed on vulnerable communities. This has remained one of the most significant environmental justice issues in Canada.
With the release of this Order, in addition to earlier action regarding the same substance by the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, CELA is very hopeful that the community will begin to see redress.
“There is a very strong legal basis for use of Section 94 in circumstances such as this,” stated Joseph Castrilli, senior counsel with CELA. “That same section was the subject of the Hydro Quebec case at the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997; which found that it was well-founded in Canada’s constitutional jurisdiction.”
“We applaud strong action by the provincial and federal governments on benzene emissions in the Sarnia area,” stated Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director of CELA. “With recent commitments to environmental justice by the federal government; with the passage of legislation to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in Canada; with the establishment of an office of environmental justice last year as we had called for through the Green Budget Coalition for years; with the establishment of a right to a healthy environment in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act in 2023; and with the public commitment of the government to support passage of private members Bill C-226, An Act to An Act Respecting the Development of a National Strategy to Assess, Prevent and Address Environmental Racism and to Advance Environmental Justice in Parliament; it is high time that we see definitive action to end this ongoing travesty of justice to the local community from the high releases of benzene to air. To do otherwise is untenable in the face of the historic and ongoing legacy that has been imposed on this community.”
For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director, CELA – theresa@cela.ca or 416-960-2284 ext.7219
Joseph Castrilli, Counsel, CELA – castrillij@sympatico.ca or 416-960-2284, ext. 7218
Media Release: CELA Reacts to Significant Order issued under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act
May 17, 2024 – Today the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued an order to the petrochemical industry in Sarnia area that stores and processes benzene, using section 94 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).
Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) supports the use of this section of CEPA in circumstances where the substance is not adequately controlled and presents a significant risk to public health.
Last summer CELA was asked to provide in depth public legal education to the Aamjiwnaang First Nation community on air quality issues and how well they are regulated. We noted that benzene was very poorly controlled; emissions were high; and part of the problem was fugitive emissions from companies handling Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC’s).
Accordingly, when ECCC issued a notice on the Canada Gazette in January, with a proposed regulation to control VOCs from petro-chemical processing facilities, CELA was strongly supportive. While calling for some strengthening of that regulation, we nevertheless applaud regulatory action in this realm.
For far too long too much impact from adverse air quality, including highly toxic carcinogens such as benzene, has been imposed on vulnerable communities. This has remained one of the most significant environmental justice issues in Canada.
With the release of this Order, in addition to earlier action regarding the same substance by the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, CELA is very hopeful that the community will begin to see redress.
“There is a very strong legal basis for use of Section 94 in circumstances such as this,” stated Joseph Castrilli, senior counsel with CELA. “That same section was the subject of the Hydro Quebec case at the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997; which found that it was well-founded in Canada’s constitutional jurisdiction.”
“We applaud strong action by the provincial and federal governments on benzene emissions in the Sarnia area,” stated Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director of CELA. “With recent commitments to environmental justice by the federal government; with the passage of legislation to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in Canada; with the establishment of an office of environmental justice last year as we had called for through the Green Budget Coalition for years; with the establishment of a right to a healthy environment in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act in 2023; and with the public commitment of the government to support passage of private members Bill C-226, An Act to An Act Respecting the Development of a National Strategy to Assess, Prevent and Address Environmental Racism and to Advance Environmental Justice in Parliament; it is high time that we see definitive action to end this ongoing travesty of justice to the local community from the high releases of benzene to air. To do otherwise is untenable in the face of the historic and ongoing legacy that has been imposed on this community.”
For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director, CELA – theresa@cela.ca or 416-960-2284 ext.7219
Joseph Castrilli, Counsel, CELA – castrillij@sympatico.ca or 416-960-2284, ext. 7218
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