From: Greenpeace via Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,talk.environment
Subject: NEWS: Call to Abolish Government System of "Legal Pollution"
Followup-To: talk.environment
Date: 1 Sep 1992 22:21:30 GMT
Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Originator: jym@remarque.berkeley.edu

[Greenpeace Press Release from Greenbase -- Redistribute Freely]
  
GREENPEACE CALLS FOR ABOLITION OF GOVERNMENT SYSTEM OF "LEGAL 
POLLUTION" - AND LAUNCHES NATIONAL BOAT TOUR TO INVESTIGATE WHY 
THE UK IS THE LARGEST POLLUTER OF THE NORTH EAST ATLANTIC 
  
LONDON August 11, 1992 (GP) The British Government's policy of 
giving companies "consents to pollute" [Note 1] has led the UK to 
be the largest polluter of the North East Atlantic [1], 
Greenpeace said today on the first day of a 5 week "No Legal 
Pollution" boat tour of the UK. 
  
Greenpeace condemned the system as leading to the "legalised" 
pollution of Britain's rivers and seas and called for its 
abolition.  
  
The latest Government data shows that nearly twenty years after 
signing the Paris Convention and agreeing to eliminate marine 
pollution [Note 2], Britain continues to pour effluent from the 
12,000 "legal" discharges around the UK [2] and to discharge 
5,046 tonnes of toxic pollutants per annum into our seas. [3]. An 
NRA (National Rivers Authority) report [4] to be released at next 
months's Ministerial meeting of the Paris Commission shows that 
the Government's "consents" system has resulted in nine pollution 
"hot spots" throughout England and Wales : the Thames, Humber, 
Tees, Tyne, Wyre, Mersey, Severn and Solent [see attached map].  
  
"The level of pollution in Britain's rivers and seas is an issue 
of national and European embarrassment," said Tim Birch,       
Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner. "The public need to know that the 
Government and the National Rivers Authority are allowing British 
industry to destroy our rivers and seas." 
      
Action needed 
  
In the face of Britain's "pollution overload", Greenpeace is 
calling for a fundamental shift in Government policy which, as 
stated in the 1990 White Paper, is that "rivers have to be used 
for waste disposal by industry" [5]. The Government should 
abolish the consent system which legalises pollution and enact 
the Precautionary Principle accepted at the 1990 North Sea 
Conference [Note 3]. It must commit itself to the elimination of 
toxic discharges into the marine environment by a phase out 
programme with clear timetables and take the lead at the Paris 
Commission meeting on 21st/22nd September.  
  
The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution recently 
recommended that "progressively less reliance should be placed on 
the environment as a mechanism for processing wastes" [6]. Even 
the Chemical Industry realises that zero emissions of 
chemicals entering the environment will be required in the 
future. Eberhard Leppin, European Environmental Affairs Director 
of Du Pont, stated in 1991 that : "The chemicals industry must 
face the fact that hazardous waste disposal in any form will 
eventually be impossible - prevention is the great chemical 
industry challenge for the nineties" [7].  
  
Wildlife at risk 
  
A series of environmental crises in and around the UK in recent 
years have revealed a stressed marine environment : the seal 
virus of 1988 which wiped out half the population of common seals 
in the Wash; massive algal blooms which closed shell fisheries 
from the Humber to Scotland; and breeding failures in seabirds in 
Scotland. Post mortem analyses of dolphins have shown high levels 
of organochlorine and heavy metal contamination [8].     
Crisis in our rivers 
There has also been a marked deterioration in river quality in 
the UK. In 1980 3,900 km of rivers were classified as being badly 
polluted; in 1990 the figure was 4,680 km [9]. In 1981 there were 
12,600 reported water pollution incidents in England and Wales; 
in 1990 there were 28,143 [9]. 
  
Reasons for the failure of the system 
  
Greenpeace blames the failure of the "consents" system on a lack 
of understanding as to the true scale and nature of river and 
marine pollution. The NRA currently monitor only four elements of 
discharges on a regular basis to assess river quality : 
dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids and 
sometimes ammonia. As stated by the Royal Environmental 
Commission the NRA monitoring does "not give a comprehensive 
picture of the state of UK rivers. Many water uses are profoundly 
influenced by the presence of other substances including plant 
nutrients, pesticides and metals" [6].     
  
There is no information on the ecological effects of 99.99% of 
all chemicals currently discharged into rivers and seas [10]. 
Furthermore, the concept of "dilute and disperse", long adopted 
by the Government, has failed to protect the environment. In 
reality, high levels of pollutants are accumulating in British 
rivers and seas. An unpublished Quality Status Report for the 
North Sea Task Force shows that high levels of heavy metals 
including cadmium are to be found as far out to sea as the Dogger 
Bank [11].  
  
The tour 
  
The Greenpeace "No Legal Pollution" tour with the MV "Solo" will 
investigate the state of Britain's polluted waters and visit many 
of the "hot spots" identified by the NRA [see schedule]. In each 
region Greenpeace will identify key polluters and release the 
results of recent discharge samples. Greenpeace will also be 
taking further samples as the tour progresses.    
  
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT GREENPEACE PRESS OFFICE: 
071 359 4837. [Greenpeace UK, London] 
  
NOTES 
1. Government "consent" system Companies are allowed, as stated 
in the 1989 Water Act, to discharge pollution into the water 
environment by obtaining a "consent to discharge" from the 
National Rivers Authority (NRA).    
  
As a result of this policy industry can legally discharge toxic 
heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, lead and copper and other 
dangerous chemicals including organochlorines such as PCBs, 
chlorinated solvents, pesticides, cyanide, oils and phenols. The 
NRA must monitor a company's consent to check that the limits of 
pollution set are adhered to.  
  
2. Paris Convention 
The Paris Convention - The Convention for the Prevention of 
Marine Pollution from Land Based Sources - is a regional 
convention covering the North East Atlantic. It was signed in 
1974 and has 13 member states which include Belgium, Denmark, 
Germany, France, Ireland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Holland, Norway, 
Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK. 
Article 1 of the Paris Convention states that "the contracting 
parties pledge themselves to take all possible steps to prevent 
pollution of the sea."    
  
The Paris Commission was established to prevent pollution of the 
marine environment by virtually all substances that can reach the 
sea from land based sources. All types of land based sources are 
covered in the convention - discharges directly into the sea, 
discharges into rivers, through land run-off or emission into the 
atmosphere that eventually reach the sea.                        
In order to give more political impetus to the work of PARCOM and 
OSCOM (see regulatory bodies sheet) the 1989 Joint Meeting 
between the two Commissions decided to hold their meetings 
together this September at a Ministerial level in Paris. A new 
Convention will then be agreed that will merge the Oslo and Paris 
Conventions. 
  
3. The 1990 North Sea Conference and the Precautionary Principle 
At the 3rd North Sea Conference the UK committed itself to a 
fundamental change of policy by adopting the Precautionary 
Principle which stated that : "Action should be taken to avoid 
potentially damaging impacts of substances that are persistent, 
toxic and liable to bioaccumulate in living organisms, even where 
there is no evidence to prove a causal link between emissions and 
effect." 
  
REFERENCES : 
1). Report on Land Based Inputs of Contaminants to the Waters of 
the Paris Convention 1989. 13th Meeting of the Paris Commission, 
The Hague, 1991. 
2). Digest of Environmental Protection and Water Statistics, 
No.14, HMSO London, 1992. 1991. Published March, 1992. 
3). Discharge consent and compliance policy : a blueprint for the 
future. NRA, London, 1990.  
4). The Paris Commission 1990 Survey, Report of the National 
Rivers Authority for England and Wales   
5). White Paper on the Environment, HMSO London, 1990, (p.164). 
6). Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution Report on 
Freshwater Quality, HMSO London, 1992.  
7). Environment Matters Journal, January, 1990. 
8). Morris RJ, Law RJ, Allchin CR, Kelly CA, Fileman CF (1989); 
Metals and Organochlorines in Dolphins and Porpoises of Cardigan 
Bay, West Wales.  
9). Digest on Environmental Protection and Water Statistics, 
No14, DOE London, 1991. 
10). At a conference on Eco - Toxicology in Brussels , 1991 Dr. 
C. J. Van Leeuwen stated that : 
"In the European Inventory of Existing Chemical Substances 
(EIECS) about 100,000 chemicals are identified. From these 
100,000 chemicals approximately 10-20 chemicals are monitored in 
important european aquatic ecosystems. If we take a closer look 
at the effect data of these chemicals we may state that for 20-30 
chemicals adequate information on their long term eco-toxicity 
and environmental fate is available. Thus for 99.99% of all 
existing chemicals adequate information in sources, effects and 
concentrations is lacking which implies that the risk of not 
managing important chemicals in almost 100% ."       
11). Quality Status Report (QSR) of the North Sea. Draft Sub 
Regional Report for Region 7A, Germany, 1992.  
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