THE CANADIAN PRESS

10 June 2009 11:49:00

MONTREAL – A new report suggests the United States and Mexico should take a page from Canada when it comes to public reporting of toxic industrial releases.

A tri-national study released today by the Montreal-based Commission for Environmental Co-operation found a 57 per cent increase between 1998 and 2005 in the number of Canadian facilities that publicly report emissions.

Project manager Orlando Cabrera Rivera says the United States saw a decrease in the number of reporting facilities over that period.

Canada is also the only country reporting on dangerous hydrogen sulfide releases by the oil and gas sector which accounted for more than 90 per cent of all toxics reported by the petroleum industry in 2005.

The study found 90 per cent of the 5.5 billion kilos of toxic pollutant releases and transfers reported across North America in 2005 could be traced back to just 30 substances from 15 industrial sectors.

In Canada, mining, oil and gas extraction and municipal wastewater treatment facilities were responsible for producing the greatest levels of pollutants.

Source: http://green.sympatico.msn.ca/canadianpressarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=1066747