Acid Rain Plan Adopted
A resolution introduced by Premier Russell MacLellan, and adopted today by New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers, will set in motion a new action plan to stop and reverse acid rain damage to the region's ecosystem.
"While progress has been made, we need to recommit ourselves, regionally, nationally and internationally, to the solution. This plan does that," the premier said in Fredericton where he is attending the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers.
The action plan calls for a further reduction, by 50 per cent, of acid rain-causing sulphur dioxide emissions on both sides of the border by 2010. Previous Canadian and American efforts to fight acid rain have already resulted in significant reductions. The majority of acid rain that falls on Nova Scotia is caused by emissions originating in the industrial heartland of the central United States and Canada.
Premier MacLellan said the goals established in the action plan will reduce acid rain in Nova Scotia to the point where it will no longer damage the province's forests, and its rivers and lakes will recover. Acid rain is blamed for the destruction of one-third of the Atlantic salmon habitat in Nova Scotia. Of 63 salmon rivers in southwestern Nova Scotia, salmon are now extinct in 14 and populations have declined by 90 per cent in 20 others.
"We have an economic and a moral obligation to take this next step," said Premier MacLellan. "Acid rain stunts forest growth and therefore presents an economic risk to Nova Scotia. Our moral obligation is to the next generation of Nova Scotians.
"When every salmon stream has recovered, when our forests are no longer damaged, that's when we can say we've accomplished something truly important. Today, we've taken another vital step in that direction."
Current Canadian and American emission reduction programs -- programs spearheaded by New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers -- have already reduced acid deposition in Nova Scotia by up to 50 per cent. Those programs, however, end in 1999.
The regional action plan adopted today is, hopefully, a harbinger of the next generation of national acid rain reduction strategies, Premier MacLellan said.
The governors and premiers' action plan also includes measures to co-ordinate data collection and improve air and water monitoring techniques across the region.
Nova Scotia has met or exceeded its emission-reduction targets to date, and the premier said the province will meet future emission-reduction requirements with no impact on the Cape Breton coal industry. Nova Scotia can achieve its targets through conversion to cleaner natural gas of oil-fired and industrial generators.
Acid rain is caused when airborne sulphur and nitrogen from car exhaust and industrial smokestacks fall back to earth with the rain.
The governors and premiers also passed a resolution adopting an action plan to combat mercury pollution. A human health hazard, its major source in the region is various types of waste incinerators, although it is also produced in lesser amounts by industrial boilers and power generations.
A number of significant measures has already been taken in Nova Scotia to reduce mercury emissions, including the elimination of municipal solid waste burners. Only about one per cent of the region's mercury is generated in this province. But, as with acid rain, the province suffers the effects of mercury pollution generated upwind.
The New England-Eastern Canadian action plan calls for measures aimed at a 50 per cent reduction in mercury emissions by 2003. These measures include diversion of waste from incinerators and emission controls. Research, increased and improved monitoring of mercury levels, and public education are also components of the plan.
Nova Scotia will fast-track assessment of mercury emission-control options for coal-fired power plants. The province's only incinerator, in Sydney, is already equipped with state-of-the-art controls that keep emissions well below the limits established in the action plan.