Minister Says Restrictions on Sulphur Excessive

Nova Scotia Environment Minister Don Downe said today new federal restrictions on sulphur levels in gasoline will have an adverse economic impact on Nova Scotia and no significant environmental benefit in this province.

"Let's be clear, we support reducing harmful emissions in gasoline," said Mr. Downe. "But the standards announced today are excessive, and will exact an economic price on Nova Scotia."

The minister says the consequences could be hundreds of jobs, and millions to the Nova Scotia economy. Specific concerns centre around the Imperial Oil Refinery in Dartmouth. It provides 450 direct and indirect jobs in Nova Scotia, and is estimated to inject some $40 million to $50 million into the provincial economy each year. New restrictions on sulphur levels would require refitting the refinery at a cost that could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Jobs are at risk here. And that's dead wrong when you consider that sulphur emissions are not a problem in Nova Scotia," said Mr. Downe. "Vancouver and Toronto have air quality problems. I think we need to be reasonable here and reduce sulphur levels more appropriately across the country."

Minister Downe has argued for a two-tier approach to restricting sulphur in gasoline, similar to a program being developed in the United States. It requires extremely low sulphur levels in areas where there is dense high volume traffic, and a different level in less populated jurisdictions.

"A two tier system recognizes the significance of the emissions problem in highly populated areas like Toronto and Vancouver, but doesn't reduce levels as drastically in areas where there are fewer people," said the Minister. "There needs to be a compromise here. For Nova Scotia, harmonizing with the United States is a reasonable approach we feel is environmentally sound, with manageable economic consequences."

The federal government today announced a program to reduce sulphur levels in gas to an average of 150 parts per million by the year 2002 and a further reduction to an average of 30 parts per million by 2005.