N.L. Hydro approved to use electricity poles treated with banned pesticide
The approval comes with conditions for N.L. Hydro
The provincial government has approved Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro's proposal, with conditions, to reuse electrical poles that were treated with pentachlorophenol, a substance recently banned by the federal government.
PCP is a manufactured chemical that was used as a wood preservative in Canada for decades, but last fall, Health Canada banned wood treated with it, effective this coming October, saying the chemical presents concerns to both humans and the environment.
The corporation will decommission a 269-kilometre power line linking Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls that hasn't been used since 2021, according to environmental assessment documents filed earlier this year.
N.L. Hydro proposed an exemption from the new federal rule to leave the base of 2,372 poles — all of them treated with PCP — in the ground along that power line, with plans to reuse the wood to repair other electricity poles under its purview.
At the time of the proposal, Jill Pitcher, a spokesperson for N.L. Hydro, said in an emailed statement, "The potential reuse of some PCP-treated materials in the short term will not negatively impact wildlife."
PCP has been used to preserve telephone poles since the mid-1930s. And now PCP-treated poles that are installed before October do not have to be replaced or removed under the new rules.
In a consultation document published June 8, Health Canada, in reviewing an application to register PCP-treated poles and cross-arms, said "Pentachlorophenol-treated poles … are unlikely to affect your health when used according to proposed label directions."
It said that in laboratory tests, the health effects noted in animals occurred at a dose level of more than 100 times higher than levels that humans are exposed to when the product is used according to label conditions.
Health Canada also said PCP "can leach from treated poles … to the soil adjacent to the treated wood," and could enter surface waters, but said the exposure risk to organisms, fish, and aquatic plants is low.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said human studies suggest an association between exposure to PCP and cancer.
Conditions apply
In a press release issued Friday, the provincial Department of Environment and Climate Change said the project is subject to conditions.
Hydro must uphold its commitments to mitigate damage to the environment and create an environmental protection plan.
In its assessment, the Department of Environment ordered N.L. Hydro to provide a waste management plan, and the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture required a caribou protection plan and a minimum 30-metre buffer between the poles and wetlands or bodies of water.
The assessment also prohibits N.L. Hydro from clearing vegetation within 800 metres of a bald eagle or osprey nest during nesting season, and must maintain a 200-metre berth the rest of the year. Those nests must also be reported to the wildlife division.