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CEC receives submission on cross border water pollution in Lake Memphremagog

  • CEC receives submission on cross border water pollution in Lake Memphremagog

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Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation facilitates environmental cooperation between Canada, Mexico and United States.

On 5 July 2019, the organization Memphremagog Conservation Inc.(the “Submitter”) filed a submission with the CEC Secretariat, asserting that both the United States and Canada are failing to effectively enforce environmental laws with respect to water pollution in Lake Memphremagog, which straddles the US/Canadian border in northern Vermont/southern Quebec.

In submission SEM-19-003 (Lake Memphremagog), the Submitter asserts that the two countries are not effectively enforcing the International Boundary Waters Treaty with respect to water pollution in Lake Memphremagog. The Submitter contends that a proposed landfill expansion in Coventry County, Vermont, will cause water pollution to cross the US/Canadian border via the lake, which is used for drinking water by Quebec residents in the province’s Eastern Townships. The Submitter also asserts that under applicable Vermont law, the state must ensure that a landfill expansion project will not unduly increase water pollution or the discharge of toxic waste into groundwater. The Submitter is specifically concerned with landfill leachate, which often includes per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and requests that meaningful studies be carried out before the landfill expansion is approved.

The CEC Secretariat has thirty (30) days to examine the submission and determine whether it satisfies the requirements set forth in Article 14(1) of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC).

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