Air Quality and its Role in Community Development Examined
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 @ 3:59 AM
Prince George, B.C. – Air Quality is the subject of two days of talks in Prince George and there is some good news to share. Prince George has been holding within the provincial standards for fine particulate. It is a mark the Prince George Air Improvement Roundtable (PG AIR) was hoping to achieve, and had it not been for forest fire smoke late in the summer of 2012, that mark would have held for the entire year of 2012.
The conference which is set for tomorrow and Thursday, is all about ensuring air quality is a key component in a community’s development. PG AIR Executive Director Terry Robert says airshed managers from a variety of communities will be gathering for the sessions “What we are trying to do here is help airshed managers understand the role the airshed plays in helping a community achieve its vision for its economic social and environmental future.”
He says it’s all about having a better understanding of how the airshed should be considered in an official community plan, or corporate economic wing “For example, here in Prince George, we want to be able to help Initiatives Prince George understand the types of industries there is room for in the airshed, but also to understand how we can work with the existing airshed to create the type of space for the kind of industries we want to attract to the community in the future.”
On the economic side of the equation, he says development organizations need to be able to accurately share information on air quality when promoting a community. “So, for example, one of the key considerations that we hear often is that Prince George can be perceived as a place where the air is really bad, and so we want to make sure airshed managers are providing information to these folks so they can articulate the improvements to the airshed, and really understand how they can help make our communities more attractive to businesses and new residents.”
As part of the two day conference, there will be a special open forum session for the public. From 6-8 on Wednesday night at the Prince George Civic Centre, there will be an opportunity to hear about advances industry has made in reducing sulphur and fine particulate emissions, as well as how air quality impacts health.
Comments
Any big industry does not care about people’s health while they are making big bucks.
Who in their right mind would set up a new industry inside City limits anyways?
The property taxes are 3-4x higher inside City limits than they are outside for heavy industry.
On an $8 million dollar building, you’re looking at close to $400,000 a year in property taxes to have it in City limits. It’s around $100,000 a year to have it outside City limits.
On top of that, the City charges development cost charges. Any new industry that sets up in Prince George has to pay about $40,000 per acre to the City for any land they want to develop.
What kind of margins do you think a new industry is going to make that they can afford this? Even if they could afford it, why would they choose to pay this?
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/03/worst_air_pollution_in_the_world_beijing_delhi_ahwaz_and_ulaanbaatar.html
Talk talk and more talk. ll the polutionm thatm we have is east ofm thje river and its controlled by the province.
Oh but then there is all the polution from wood stoves lol
Cheers
Yes, you are right….the polution is east of the river and it is the pulp mills…lets be honest ay?
It’s a great day to have this. Anyone driven down from the University this afternoon. Big smog hanging over the City.
Right now the index is 40.1 for PM10 and rising. Yesterday at the same time it was 18.7 at Plaza400 …. pretty good indicator from pulp mills …… Mopst of river road is shut down now ….. so only CNR left and all that truck traffic around City Hall ….. LOL….
BCR is no longer the culprit …. everything shut down there too….
My eyes have been watering all day
Air Quality? Two days of talks? That ought to fix what’s wrong. Per diem plus a couple of good catered lunches. I could agree with that. AND agree to meet again. Carry on. You folks are doing a fine job.
at 8pm .. Plaza 400 pm10 24hr average = 54.4
PM2.5 = 22.2
PM10 oe hour averge is 105.8 …… ah, breathe in that fresh PG air downtown while you are out on the town folks …..
Don’t count chickens before they hatch …;-)
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