Conde Nast Portfolio, a New York-based business and investment Magazine, has devised a list of the 10 worst corporate polluters in North America.  We, at Living Green Living Well, note that an unusually high concentration of these companies have found a home in this province.  Three among "the Toxic Ten," JR Simplot Co., Boeing, Cargill, have a significant manufacturing presence in Manitoba, while three others, Ford Motors, Chevron Oil and Apple Computers, are household products with retail and service operations in the province.

JR Simplot, the major supplier of french fries to McDonald's, processes 300 million pounds of potatoes yearly at its facility in Portage La Prairie.  The magazine criticizes Simplot for improper handling of fertilizers, polluting rivers and groundwater in Idaho with phosphorus.  Air pollution from its phosphate mines in Idaho have created a major health hazzard according to the Centre for Disease Control.  Irrigation for its potato production in Manitoba is among the single largest uses of groundwater in the province.

Cargill, whose Canadian headquarters are in Winnipeg, is one of the world's largest agricultural companies.  It is involved in processing, manufacturing, crop inputs, and grain handling. It has overwhelmed waste water treatment plants in Virginia, dumping toxic waste into the North Fork Shenandoah River. Its corn processing plants are significant sources of smog in cities across the continent. The company is battling lawsuits over alleged dumping of residue into a wildlife reserve in San Francisco Bay.

Boeing is a global leader in aerospace with 3,000 employees in the Winnipeg area.  The aircraft manufacturer expects to double its global commercial fleet to 36,000 by 2025.  The climate change impacts of such an expansion could undo many of the world's efforts at greenhouse gas emission reductions, especially since international travel is excluded from national carbon budgets under the Kyoto Protocol.  Research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has shown that aircraft emissions may have greater impacts than ground based emissions. Because of their ability to alter cloud properties, aircraft emissions may be 2 to 4 times more powerful in their effects on global warming. Boeing has been less than forthright about their carbon emissions, according to Conde Nast.  The British Advertising Association has reprimanded the company for misleading environmental claims about its aircraft. Boeing was also fined half a million dollars for water pollution in California in 2007. Finally, Boeing is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers. There is no known environmentally sound way to bomb an impoverished country 'back to the stone age.'

The Conde Nast report can be found at: http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/02/19/10-Worst-Corporate-Polluters