Ontario proposes to impose more stringent water pollution standards on refineries to cut contaminant discharges by 30%.
The measures, which the government of the Canadian province said are the toughest in North America, will cost industry about $57 million for abatement equipment and $8 million/year in operating costs.
Draft regulations will be open for public comment for 60 days, then be phased in during 3 years.
They will affect refineries operated by Imperial Oil Ltd. at Nanticoke and Sarnia, Novacor Chemicals Ltd. at Corunna, Petro-Canada at Mississauga and Oakville, and Shell Canada Ltd. and Suncor Inc. at Sarnia. Their combined capacity is 507,300 b/d.
The new rules were drafted in consultation with industry.
A spokesman for the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute said his group is comfortable with the new environmental initiative. Pollution Probe, an environmental lobby, said Ontario may soon have the world's cleanest refineries, but they will still turn out products that cause urban smog and the greenhouse effect.
Draft proposals would bar industry from discharging dioxins and furans. They also would place limits on phenolics, volatile suspended solids, ammonia, sulphides, dissolved organic carbon, oil and grease, total suspended solids, phosphorus, and acid levels in effluents.
A government background study said Ontario refineries have the lowest pollution discharges in Canada and perform better in this category than the seven best refineries in the U.S.
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