Oxford County’s largest polluters are its three largest, according to a PollutionWatch ranking. The annual ranking of polluters is based on data the companies themselves submit annually to the federal government. PollutionWatch, a coalition of Environmental Defence and the Canadian Environmental Law Association, compiles the information and ranks it according to who says they’re releasing the largest amount of pollution.
 
For Oxford, the top three are Lafarge Canada Inc.’s operation south of Embro, the neighbouring Federal White Cement Ltd. facility and Beachville Lime Ltd. Together, they reported 16.4 million kilograms of pollutants either discharged into the air or sent to the ground. But, to be fair, the numbers also show that in most cases the amount of pollutants at each of the county’s top-three facilities has remained stable or decreased since they began reporting.