|  | Historical highlights of environmental responsibility
In 1918, Imperial's new refinery in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia., included a large modern separator to extract oil from sewer water before discharge into the harbor.
In the 1930s, Imperial pioneered the application of biological oxidation to reduce chemicals known as phenols in refinery discharges. This process, which converts phenols into carbon dioxide and water, is used in refineries throughout the world.
In 1963 Imperial ordered its Great Lakes ships to retain food wastes and other garbage for disposal ashore eight years before government regulation made the practice mandatory.
In the early 1970s, Imperial became the first company in Canada to introduce low-lead gasoline. In concert with better automobile pollution-control systems, improvements to gasoline formulations have meant that a new car today produces less than five percent of the tailpipe emissions of its counterpart of 20 years ago.
Through the 1990s, Imperial has progressively reduced the volatility of gasolines sold in summer, in order to help reduce smog formation. Investments in facilities to recover evaporative emissions during transportation and storage of gasoline have also contributed to steadily improving air quality in Canada.
In November 2003 Imperial began producing 30 ppm low-sulphur gasoline at all of our refineries across Canada more than a year ahead of the Canadian government regulations. Low-sulphur gasoline means fewer tailpipe emissions and cleaner air for all of us.
In May 2006 ultra-low sulphur diesel was being produced at all our refineries. The new 15 ppm sulphur content requirement is a reduction of 97 percent versus the previous requirements. Combined with the ultra-low sulphur gasoline regulations implemented in 2003, these two initiatives will reduce smog-causing nitrogen oxides and particulate-matter emissions from new vehicles by almost 90 percent.
In 2006, the Cold Lake operation achieved one of its best years ever for recycling produced water, with more than 98 percent being recycled. Today the operation uses 0.5 barrels of fresh water for every barrel of oil produced. When the operation was commercialized in 1985, the ration was 3.7 to 1.
Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance, in 2007, affirms that Imperial's Operations Integrity Management System meets the intent and requirements of ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.
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