West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation Newsletter

B.C. GOVERNMENT RESPONDS TO PULP POLLUTION PRESSURE

British Columbia's pulp mills will be required to eliminate the organochlorines produced in the bleaching process by December 31, 2002, according to amendments to the provincial pulp mill effluent regulation recently announced by the B.C. government. The regulation will apply to all pulp mills that use chlorine or chlorine compounds to bleach their pulp white. In the meantime, mills will be required to meet an average monthly organochlorine discharge limit of 1.5 kg AOX (adsorbable organic halogen) per tonne of pulp produced by December 31, 1995. However, a mill may exempt itself from the requirement to meet the 1.5 level if it agrees to eliminate all organochlorines by December 31, 2000.

The requirements setting the new organochlorine limits will come into force on July 1, 1992. By the end of June, each pulp mill will be required to submit plans and time schedules showing how it will be able to meet these new requirements.

The amended regulation is a victory for the Pulp Pollution Campaign, formed in 1988 to press for the elimination of organochlorines from pulp mills, according to an urgent and realistic timetable. The Pulp Pollution Campaign is made up of 54 organizations and individuals, comprising over 250,000 members, who are concerned about pulp mill pollution in B.C. West Coast Environmental Law Association lawyers Bill Andrews and Ann Hillyer represent the Pulp Pollution Campaign groups.

As many as 1000 different organochlorine compounds can be formed during the bleaching process, but less than 400 of these substances have been identified. The new British Columbia regulation in effect adopts the precautionary principle, that is, taking regulatory action to prevent contamination before there is absolutely conclusive proof that harm has been done. Eliminating all organochlorines, rather than regulating on a compound-by-compound basis as scientific research identifies each harmful compound, adopts the precautionary principle.

An added benefit of this regulatory approach is that, by the end of 2002, mills in B.C. will no longer use chlorine or chlorine compounds to bleach their pulp white. This will open up new opportunities for recycling pulp mill effluent -- opportunities that are not technologically feasible when chlorine compounds are used in the bleaching process.

This is good news for the environment since organochlorines may not be the only problem in pulp mill effluents. Current scientific research being done at the National Water Research Institute in Burlington, Ontario, indicates that pulp mill effluent causes sublethal effects in fresh water fish. The federal scientists conducting this research think that these sublethal effects are being caused by compounds other than organochlorines. Getting rid of the chlorine compounds in the bleaching process will open up the possibility of keeping pulp mill effluent out of the environment and therefore prevent environmental degradation from unknown substances.

Sustainable Process: The Cornerstone of a Jobs and Environment Accord

The war in the woods cannot be won. The combatants have fought long and hard on the logging roads, in the courts, through the media and in the halls of the legislature -- all for little or no gain. No one will emerge victorious because, as we are now all well aware, B.C.'s economic well-being and its environmental health are inextricably interwoven. It is simply not possible for one to prevail over the other.

While the conflict rages on, most close to the action have come to acknowledge the problem -- no one can get what they want without the support of those in the other camps. Having exhausted the alternatives, the protagonists are in search of consensus. Beneath the tired wave of confrontational rhetoric and public relations democracy a groundswell is building. Consequently, the prospects for a jobs and environment accord -- a first step towards a province-wide land use strategy -- have probably never been better. The adversaries appear willing and the political climate is right. What has long been construed as an intractable conflict is showing signs of becoming tractable. However, before British Columbians can successfully address the substance of the debate, they must be empowered to negotiate.

The means of empowerment in a complex, multi-party, public dispute is process -- a shared decision-making process. The process must be fair; it must be efficient; and, it must facilitate stable, enduring agreements. It must be capable of addressing interim concerns without compromising future resolution options. In short, it must be sustainable.

A sustainable negotition process is one which empowers the stakeholders to collaboratively seek an outcome that accommodates rather than compromises the interests of all concerned. The motivation for collaboration lies in the realization that the parties' goals are interdependent. The disputants don't have to like one another. They just have to recognize that working together to solve a jointly defined problem will enable each to gain more than it otherwise could.

If a jobs and environment accord is to succeed where confrontation, discord and unilateral decisions have not, there is a need for leadership. A negotiation process without the political will to support it is not sustainable. Our new government's commitment to change through meaningful consultation must be augmented by a bureaucracy oriented towards shared decision-making. The relationship between our resource management agencies and the public needs to be redefined. Not only must the people be heard, those listening must be mandated to respond.

Central to the design and successful evolution of a sustainable negotiation process is the need for effective management. The managment function includes: delivering mediation services; training stakeholders in the fundamentals of consensus-based negotiation; providing resources for information gathering; and, providing intervenor funding for those who need it. If the government assumes direct responsibility for process management, it must do so in a way which clearly distinguishes that task from its role as a stakeholder.

Finding agreement in a forest land use conflict is a lot like trying to herd cats. It is an elusive business which demands considerable flexi-bility and no small amount of creativity. The preferred strategy often varies according to the circum-stances at hand. Nonetheless, the key to a workable outcome is a process which involves all the stakeholders not only in the negotiation of substance but also in the design and evolution of the process itself -- from the initial assessment of the appropriateness of negotiation through to and including the implementation and monitoring of the agreement. Threshold level involvement is extremely important in that it en-genders understanding and allows working relationships to evolve.

Oscar Wilde maintained that "men [sic] and nations behave wisely once they exhaust all the other options". In the end, there will be a negotiated outcome to B.C.'s war in the woods. The sooner the people are empowered to negotiate in a sustainable way the sooner the confrontation in the woods will end.

-- Craig R. Darling (a Victoria lawyer and mediator whose preferred area of practice is environmental and public policy dispute resolution).

Letter To The Minister of Constitutional Affairs