"For Pollution, the Future Is Big"

"When it comes to the environment, many people like to think small is beautiful. But that might not be true, at least as far as polluters are concerned. A new study being released today has come to the unexpected conclusion that the large companies in North America most environmentalists instinctively consider pollution villains have made huge strides in curbing the amount of harmful chemicals they dump into the air, water and land. Meanwhile, companies with the largest emission increases are often little-noticed small and medium sized businesses. The study, by the Commission for Environmental Co-operation, the Montreal-based pollution watchdog set up under NAFTA, made the discovery by comparing industrial releases of dangerous chemicals by companies in Canada and the U.S. from 1998 and 2004. It found Canadian industrial facilities that reported emissions in 1998 of less than 10 tonnes -- considered a relatively small amount of pollution -- on average had emissions rise a staggering five fold over the period ending 2004." Martin Mittelstaedt reports in the Toronto Globe and Mail Oct. 18, 2007.