Catalyst’s British Columbia mills participate in the federal government’s Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) program, which focuses on the impacts of mill emissions to water. It involves a rolling three-year cycle of study design, field testing, and reporting, to surface important insights on the health of aquatic ecosystems and the effectiveness of regulatory protection.
Studies are site-specific and informed by community input. At all Catalyst locations, they include precise assessments of how mill discharges affect the life cycles of fish and other marine species. Additional site-specific work can include population surveys and fish-tissue and sediment testing.
Findings over five EEM cycles have shown reduced mill impacts and improved marine conditions, which can often be linked to specific operational changes. At Crofton, for example, the move to elemental chlorine-free bleaching contributed to the downward trend in dioxin and furan concentrations.
