'Border issue' dominates PCB Forum - Waste disposal companies, PCB owners await U.S. Government decision

Highlights of the 11th Annual Industry and PCB Forum, held in Toronto in January 1997 were reviewed. Discussions were dominated by the pending final approval by the U.S. Government to transport PCBs from Canada to treatment plants in the United States for destruction. Permission to export waste PCBs to the United States comes after 17 years of lobbying by American waste treatment plant operators to gain access to Canadian PCBs. The regulatory approval permits the shipment of Canadian PCBs, provided that the exported waste is treated with the utmost care in an environmentally sound manner. Environment Canada estimates that PCB owners will save nearly 39 million dollars (based on 1996 inventory) under the proposed waste export regulations. The new regulations will also enable owners to speed up the PCB disposal process, making Canada PCB-free sooner than otherwise would be the case. At present the cost of disposing of PCBs is higher in Canada; a court challenge to the new export regulations was launched by Canadian environmental activists, claiming that although advantageous to Canadian PCB owners, U.S. disposal methods (landfilling in some cases) do not meet the strict requirements on the Basel Convention which Canada has ratified in 1992