The cement plant continued breaching emission limits. In one seven-month stretch in 2010, the company had roughly 700 environmental violations, according to information included in Puusa and Stenton’s complaints to the ministry.

There are generally two ways the government can make polluters pay. In the case of a contaminant getting dumped or spilled on land or in water, companies may get hit with cash penalties designed to encourage fast action. The amounts are often small, and companies can have them reduced by up to 35 per cent by, among other things, taking steps to prevent or mitigate the violation.

The province can also take the companies to court. Since 2011, companies and individuals have paid more than $28.8 million in fines for water and environmental offences.

Critics say environment prosecutions against big companies do not happen enough, however, and that regulators are too often reluctant to confront and hold serial offenders accountable.

In Ontario, conviction data shows that most environmental cases have been brought against individuals and small companies. In one case, a Niagara slaughterhouse did not properly control the odours coming from the killing floor. In another, a Milton man tried to evade getting his old car certified under the Drive Clean program.

A ministry spokesperson said the government does not distinguish between companies and individuals when it comes to enforcement. “All cases, whether small or large businesses, are investigated on their merit and the threat to human health and the environment,” he said.

Environmentalist Lynda Lukasik remembers watching the ministry’s prosecutions in a Hamilton courtroom.

Environmentalist Lynda Lukasik pressured Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment for years to get tough on ArcelorMittal Dofasco. She had tracked and photographed the dark plumes emitted from the factory. Randy Risling/Toronto Star

She and fellow community activists had tracked and photographed the dark plumes that snaked their way out of ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s plant in Hamilton. She knew the plant emitted benzene and benzo(a)pyrene, “both very potent ... carcinogens,” she said.

She also knew the company had received multiple orders to clean up its act around that time and still struggled to stay in compliance.

After years of her group complaining and pressuring the government to take action, the ministry laid 13 charges against ArcelorMittal Dofasco in 2012.

Sitting in the courtroom, she saw other environment ministry cases in progress, such as a motorist charged with illegally modifying his car’s tailpipe, and realized: “They’re going after some of these little guys, but it took a heck of a lot of effort for us to get them to go after this big player and do something about what I would argue is a pretty serious chronic problem that affects a whole lot of people.”

There’s a deterrent value to going after big industrial polluters in court, she said.

“Public shaming is a very powerful thing. And if the ministry is perceived to be ‘getting tough’ on industrial polluters, other industries definitely take notice. I am concerned, however, that (the ministry) is far too cautious when it comes to pursuing prosecutions,” she said.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco said in a statement it continues to invest in repairs, maintenance and improvements to reduce its air emissions. The company pleaded guilty to six counts of violating air quality standards in 2014. Courtesy of Lynda Lukasik

In 2014, ArcelorMittal Dofasco pleaded guilty to six counts of violating air quality standards and was fined $390,000.

The company said in a statement that it continues to significantly invest in repairs, maintenance and improvements to better its environmental performance and reduce air emissions.

“ArcelorMittal Dofasco has a corporate commitment to continuous improvement in every aspect of its operating procedures and performance,” the company statement said, adding that it regularly engaged with community members to discuss “issues related to the environmental impact of its operations.”

While advocates like Lukasik and her neighbours go after the polluter, Ada Lockridge went after the one who allows the polluting — the province.

Ada Lockridge, a member of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, filed a legal action this July to force Ontario’s environment minister to review the way the ministry regulates cumulative air pollution. The ministry finally unveiled a proposed policy on November 9. Dave Chidley for the Toronto Star

Lockridge is a member of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, a community neighbouring a cluster of refineries, petrochemical plants and other industrial facilities known as Chemical Valley, near Sarnia. The First Nation community drew international attention in the mid-2000s after a study found its proximity to the industrial plants was a potential factor in the community having an abnormally low male birth rate.

In July, Lockridge filed a legal action to force Ontario’s environment minister to make good on a years-old government promise to review the way the province regulates industrial air pollution.

Ontario’s current regulations look at the emissions of each individual facility, rather than the cumulative impact all nearby plants have on the local air quality, according to Lockridge’s court application.

“It’s about everyone’s right to clean air, to feel safe in their own home,” said Lockridge, who is being helped by lawyers from the environmental advocacy group Ecojustice.

The environment ministry had promised Lockridge back in 2009 that it would review how it regulates cumulative air pollution. Eight years later, on Nov. 9, the ministry finally unveiled its proposed policy. It focuses on the cumulative levels of just two contaminants in heavily industrialized areas, which environmental advocates say ignores the cocktail of air contaminants residents and workers in industry-dense communities are exposed to each day.

“Public shaming is a very powerful thing. And if the ministry is perceived to be ‘getting tough’ on industrial polluters, other industries definitely take notice.” Lynda Lukasik Executive director of Environment Hamilton

Earlier this year, the ministry also created a dedicated unit of 10 investigators to target incidents involving large industry in Hamilton and Sarnia.

Back on Picton Bay, sitting on his dock on a brisk September day, Keijo Puusa coughs. It’s a nagging bark that comes from deep in his chest. One of his neighbours has a similar cough.

Puusa can’t say what causes it but knows it goes away if he leaves town for a few days.

As Puusa and his friends pursued their complaints about the cement plant, they faced backlash from some locals who thought they were attacking the economic heart of the community.

“We weren’t out to get the plant. We just wanted them to stop breaking the law,” Puusa said.

In a meeting with a government official, Puusa said, the regulator told him that the company did not have the budget to solve the emission problems.

“It wasn’t the company so much we were fighting. It was the ministry,” he said.

The men filed an application for the ministry to formally investigate Essroc in the summer of 2011, alleging the government had mishandled earlier complaints about the company. The ministry concluded that its response to the company’s repeated violations had been “thoughtful and appropriate.”

In reviewing how that investigation was handled, however, Ontario’s independent environmental commissioner said the ministry overly relies on letting chronic violators like Essroc voluntarily fix their problems, allowing pollution to persist for years.

In a 2012 report, the commissioner said he was “deeply disturbed” by the government’s “exceedingly slow and weak response…despite the ministry’s knowledge that Essroc’s fugitive emissions were causing adverse effects for the applicants and area residents for almost a decade.

“Even though a facility may play an important economic role in a community, it should not be allowed to do so at the expense of residents and the environment.”

Under growing pressure, the province charged the company in 2013.

Essroc pleaded guilty to 2013 charges of releasing a contaminant into the environment, among other offences. The company was fined $550,000 and ordered to pay another $137,500 in victim surcharges. Randy Risling/Toronto Star

Essroc eventually pleaded guilty to multiple counts of discharging a contaminant into the environment that was likely to cause an adverse effect, and other offences. It was fined $550,000, and ordered to pay an additional $137,500 in victim surcharges.

The Picton plant was purchased by Lehigh Hanson in 2016. In a statement, a Lehigh spokesperson said the facility has taken a number of steps to reduce emissions, including updating equipment.

“The plant continues to focus on improving its overall environmental performance and reducing opacity exceedances,” he said. “We remain committed to working collaboratively with the appropriate regulatory authorities and the community to protect the health and safety of our employees and neighbours.”

Since committing the offences Essroc ultimately pleaded guilty to, the plant has reported at least 793 smokestack violations, according to data given to Puusa and Stenton by the ministry.

Some of those pollution exceedances appear to have occurred while the company was already under order by the province to fix its stack emissions. In Ontario, a company cannot be charged for an environmental violation that occurred while the firm is complying with a provincial order to get that problem into compliance.

The ministry said it reviews each violation to determine whether an investigation is warranted. It routinely inspects the cement plant and is recommending it improve its equipment maintenance to reduce the likelihood of future problems.

But Puusa will still keep his eye on the smokestacks across the bay. If he doesn’t, he’s not sure anyone else will.