More than three dozen professors at an Ontario university are calling on the federal and provincial governments to act in response to reporting published by Canada’s National Observer. The open letter from Algoma University faculty, addressed to MP Terry Sheehan and MPP Ross Romano and published on SooToday.com, urges the representatives for Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., to regulate emissions of cancer-causing pollution from the Algoma Steel mill. Recent reporting has revealed that those emissions, which well exceed provincial standards, are even higher than previously thought. Instead of requiring Algoma Steel to take immediate steps to reduce carcinogenic emissions, Ontario has allowed the company to apply for even greater exemptions, so long as some effort is being made to reduce emissions. The plant has been releasing benzo(a)pyrene at 400 times the provincial standard, and is applying for exemptions of 530 times the standard. It’s also been releasing benzene at almost five times the provincial standard, and is now applying for an exemption that’s almost nine times the standard.