Start making the REAL problem "Industry" accountable please. You always hear them on the radio saying "No road sweeping, no backyard fires and/or indoor fire. How come we never hear any instructions towards industry? I am sure that back yard fires are not the REASON behind the poor air quality. I agree they do not help when the advisory is on but they did not cause the problem to begin with. Oh but wait! That would mean NOT sucking up to the people that create jobs. God forbid that the air quality is more important than the pay checks of the few.

Shell... doesn't the article say the problem is road dust... I agree we should work towards limiting pollution in all aspects, but, in this instance the REAL problem is we put truck loads of dirt on the road all winter and haven't cleaned it up yet.

Did you stay home from work or ride the bus to help reduce the dust problem? Probably not, it would be inconvienent. If you (and the rest of us, I drove today too) can't even bother to do something as simple as take the bus, how can you expect others to give up their empolyment for the same cause?

Again, the dust is the problem, Shell do your part and stay home until it is all cleaned up. After all "the air quality is more important than the pay checks of the few."

I have no access to the bus service otherwise I would take it EVERY DAY. I do not agree that it is all due to road dust "COME ON". What I smell is industry polution...not dust! Oh and btw you are not suppose to attack people for their opinions on here. When you say my name followed by insults it is concidered an personal attack towards my beliefs. I am sick to death of it. Say your opinion all you want but leave names out of it!

I remember when Canfor's pulpmills were shut down because of lengthy strikes. The air quality was not improved by much, if at all.

Pay cheques are indeed important to a lot of working people and their families. It has nothing to do with sucking up to anybody. Even government owned industry pollutes plenty, believe it or not.

Let's be scientific about the whole matter: where does the pollution come from, what kind of pollution is it, do the fine particulates increase when the roads dry out, does smoke contribute to the problem...

Perhaps one day when the three pulpmills are down for a few weeks or months for whatever reason accurate measurements can be taken during an atmospheric weather inversion, the kind that traps ALL emissions in the bowl.

Okay then explain this to me. If it has nothing to do with the pulpmills, sawmills, refinery and/or plants in Prince George how come you do not see other cities in BC with such poor air quality? Something is wrong here and its not just the gravel on the roads because other towns have this as well. My motto is "if it smells like crap then it is crap" :}

Please accept my apology. The last paragraph of my post was snippy.

As for the rest, I used a name the same way I would have if I was having a face to face discussion. I was offerring a different opinion and asking if you did anything that you felt others should be required to do. In short I was bringing it to a personal level to see if I could change your opinion.

I always have a problem with someone preaching self sacrifice of others for the benefit of all. If one wouldn't do what they are suggesting others to do, than, it should not be suggested.

I was not insulting I was questioning, part of having an opinion is discussing the merits of it.

However, I offended you and for that I am sorry.

Since someone asked a question I will answer with my opinion.

Inversion, that is why we have more problems. The other cities don't have a bowl like we do. This is why the Hart has good air.

Consider this: If industry is the problem and other communities in BC have industry and no problems, can one blame industry?

I guess peoples opinions wouldn't be attacked openly if they actually based their opinion off some sort of factual evidence and NOT just what the wish to believe.

Now that is just my Opinion!

The root cause of the problem is not the bowl, nor is it the inversions we experience. The root cause is our industry (primarily) and other sources (secondary). The bowl, weather patterns and locations of industry certainly play a role in our poor air quality, but it is hogwash to suggest that they cause it. Our poor air in PG is caused primarily by fine particulate matter. These particles are a direct result of industrial emissions and not natural phenomena.

Everyone knows there is a problem. The residents of PG know it, the City knows it, the Province knows it, the Feds know it and anyone with any common sense knows it. You don't even need to be a scientist. The problem lies with what people are willing to do about it.

Why do we use so much dirt on the roads and why don't we try and sweep more often? Why haven't we looked at using salt instead of dirt? Why don't we have Aircare here? Why does the City allow people to slash burn when they are clearing land for developments? Why haven't industrial polluters been held accountable when they are in breach of their obligations? Why haven't we lobbied agressively to have more stringent regulations for our airshed? Why haven't we looked into moving some of our industry out of the bowl (perhaps that would be a better use of dollars than a PAC or new RCMP station . . .)?

The problem is the same as it always has been since Prince George was founded. It doesn't change from day to day, just the excuses do.
The thing is, it was never realized to be a problem until it was a problem. Now there is nothing you can do about it but try to mitigate it as much as possible. What we really need is better air circulation through the bowl to carry away the build up of contaminants.
The Fraser Valley is no different with their cow poo.

Thank you Travism, that makes sense. Apology accepted as well. All I said is that industry should be held accountable...how do I get factual evidence for that. An opinion is a persons view of something, just because you do not agree does not make it wrong. My point WAS that when there is an advisory warning they only suggest to the residents what they SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT do. I feel like industry plays a big part in our air quality and I only meant that they could do their part to. For example "don’t run the burners" on those days. And that is just an example in my MIND; they might even do that already. I really meant no harm other than to vent my frustration towards people in charge who only are motivated by industries money and ultimately do not take the air we breathe or even US into consideration.

Why does everyone think that industry does not do their part?

The Pulp Industry has spent millions in the past 20 years to reduce emissions. They have very tight restrictions on how much hog fuel can be burnt in order to remain below their allowable emission levels and when they exceed the must report and pay fines.

Yes they are a contributer but they certainly have done, and continue to do their part in reducing emissions.

As for not running the burners on bad air days....If they shut the boilers down the mill would go down and PG would be in the same boat as Mackenzie!

Shellshadow, I have seen and smelled the same inversion conditions many times in Quesnel and it was on occasion far worse than Prince George.

Other cities which are also located in a bowl and have no heavy industry have pollution problems as well, even in Kelowna and south of Kelowna people with breathing problems have a hard time when the vineyards and orchards are burning huge piles of tree clippings and pruned branches.

If our city would only put properly screened and WASHED gravel on the roads during the winter we wouldn't see these huge clouds of very fine powdery dust in the spring time.

The sweeping of our streets leads to big clouds of dust being blown everywhere.

Of course industry causes pollution and therefore it must operate within certain limits or it will be fined. Traffic causes pollution, too.

If we want no pollution we have to ban everything that causes pollution and that is not going to happen any time soon.

As new technology is being developed we must insist that industry starts using it and we ourselves must not pollute when it is an option not to.

Road dust doesn't smell like sulphur and if you check the MOE site you can see that there is a link between particulate levels and sulphur.... which would indicate that the problem is with industry not roaddust.

Also in regards to the comment about industry spending millions... I wonder how much that is as a percentage of sales... I bet its negligible.

Everyone else is doing their part ,.... its now time for industry to step up and clean up.

I'm certainly no fan of the pollution that results from heavey industry in this town, but I also have to be honest when I say that I think the road dust WAS the main issue the last couple of days. It was like talcum powder everywhere you went downtown. It even looked different driving into work. Instead of the crap coming out of the stacks and settling downtown, all you could see was a brownish cloud hovering all over the place. I've seen the stuff from the stacks clogging up the bowl enough to know that it wasn't the main culprit for the last few days, at least not IMHO.