As the Canadian CBC reports, a hazardous waste processing facility owned by the government of Alberta, Canada, was granted permission by the same government to operate without mercury monitoring equipment for years, despite such monitoring being a condition of its operating permit. The Swan Hills Treatment Centre, operating a wastewater and hazardous water disposal site, is owned by Alberta Infrastructure and operated by a contractor — previously French multinational Suez until that company’s merger with another French waste management giant, Veolia.
The facility, which opened in 1987 on a site 10 kilometres northeast of the town of Swan Hills, has a history of malfunctions and explosions that have resulted in environmental contamination.
In January of this year the law charity Ecojustice, on behalf of two clients, requested an investigation under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act. Ecojustice lawyer Susanne Calabrese said in an interview:
“We feel that that this was not a reasonable decision, that it’s not acceptable to not have mercury monitoring at a hazardous waste treatment plant for more than three years.”
