For further information please read our Media Backgrounder or contact: Hauschild, President, Loyalis

For further information please read our Media Backgrounder or contact: Hauschild, President, Loyalist Environmental Coalition (613) 296 4355 cell Christine Elwell, Staff Lawyer, Sierra Legal (416) 368 7533 ext 29 Elaine MacDonald, Senior Scientist, Sierra Legal (416) 368 7533 ext 27 Gord Perks, Toronto Environmental Alliance (416) 596 0660

MEDIA BACKGROUNDER
Lafarge Saint-Constant Air Emissions

. Lafarge's cement facility in Saint-Constant, Quebec, just south of Montreal, began burning tires several years ago in the facility's cement kiln as a replacement fuel

. Sierra Legal examined the most recent data available from Environment Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory. This information is self-collected and reported by the company to the federal government.
. During the period 2000-2004 there were huge increases in the emissions of various chemicals including: cadmium (3,064%), chromium (609%), copper (3,441%), lead (141%), manganese (1,915%), nickel (1,028%) and zinc (1,139%), sulphur dioxide (145%) and particulate matter-2.5 (122%)

. During the same period, releases of dioxins and furans - some of the most toxic chemicals known to science - increased by 742%, making the Saint-Constant facility the second largest emitter of dioxins in Quebec

. Based on the Dioxin Assessment under the Canadian Environmental

Protection Act, the 2004 emissions of 0.826 grams Total Equivalents (TEQ) at the Saint-Constant facility are equivalent to the maximum acceptable annual intake of dioxin for a population of more than 3 million people

Lafarge's Proposal

. Lafarge Canada is a subsidiary of the world's largest cement producer, based in France

. The company's proposal would utilize a 1974-built cement kiln at Lafarge's plant in Bath, Ontario to burn waste materials as a source of fuel for the production of cement products

. Lafarge's proposal includes burning up to 100 tonnes per day of used tires, pelletized municipal waste, animal meal, non-recyclable plastics and solid shredded materials and by-products, including pulp and paper by-products and agricultural by-products

. The proposal includes importing hundreds of tonnes of materials from across Ontario, Quebec, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey and Massachusetts

. The proposal does not include the addition of any pollution control mechanisms

Environmental Bill of Rights Submission

. Last month Sierra Legal filed comments concerning the proposal on behalf of a local citizen's group, the Loyalist Environmental Coalition under Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights

. The submission slams Lafarge's proposal and demands a comprehensive environment assessment and proper public consultation process.

. The submission is supported by the Toronto Environmental Alliance, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, Iroquois Group of Central New York and Sierra Club of Canada (Ontario Chapter).

. In light of potential trans-boundary air pollution issues and Government of Canada's responsibilities under the Canada-US Air Quality Agreement and Canadian Environmental Assessment Act the groups forwarded the submissions to Canada's Minister of the Environment and New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer

Please note that materials available for download from www.sierralegal.org include: A map of waste import jurisdictions; Graphs of Saint-Constant air emissions; Image of Lafarge facility in Bath; and the groups' EBR Submission.

Christine Elwell
Staff Lawyer
Sierra Legal Defence Fund
30 St. Patrick Street, Suite 900
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5T 3A3
Tel. 416.368.7533 (ext. 29)
Fax 416.363.2746
www.sierralegal.org