Environmentalists want investigation into toxic waste in Georgia Strait

Mark Hume
May 4th, 2010
The Globe and Mail

A coalition of Canadian and U.S. environmental groups have asked an international body to investigate allegations the federal government is allowing a Metro Vancouver sewage plant to regularly discharge toxic waste into Georgia Strait.

In a submission, nine groups ask the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America to document “the failure of the Canadian government to adequately enforce its environmental laws.”

Douglas Chapman, a spokesman for Fraser Riverkeeper, the lead environmental group in the action, said he hopes the CEC will investigate why the federal government took over and stayed a private prosecution of Metro Vancouver in 2006.

In that case Fraser Riverkeeper alleged the Iona waste water treatment plant was routinely discharging effluent that failed to meet toxicity standards.

Mr. Chapman said Metro Vancouver’s own records show that on 25 testing days between 2001 and 2009 the Iona plant “discharged primary treated sewage effluent that was acutely toxic to fish.”

But he said Metro Vancouver has never been charged with violating the Fisheries Act.

“The aim of this submission is to promote the enforcement of the Fisheries Act,” states the application to the CEC. “By preventing the charge against Metro Vancouver … the Canadian government has failed to enforce the Fisheries Act … A factual record of this failure could encourage the Canadian government to enforce its environmental laws and regulations, thus fostering the protection of the environment for present and future generations.”

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail