This issue has been important for way too long. If someone were to run just on this issue alone, they would have my vote. We need an elected advocate on air quality in Prince George. Too much rhetoric from politicians. Why is there such little comment from our elected officials on this matter. What are they doing about it?

The story keeps changing. Originally I heard that 3 tests were done, with each of the results significantly over the maximum allowed levels, varying between 12 and 20 times the legal limit.
Don't piss on me and tell me its raining.

And to think somebody wants to make this town into a tourist destination,They will avoid it like the plague now !

People in a position of repsonsiblity, especially those close to the situation should understand the governance process, contracts and resposnibilities a bit more I think.

Here is a link to the report in question on the PGAIR site:

http://www.pgairquality.com/files/pdf/R25610_1_MOEOdour_TRS_VOC_Aldehydes.pdf

Read the cover sheet.

A Report to: Ministry of Environment
Omineca-Peace Region
Environmental Protection Division
325-1011 4th Avenue, Prince George
Prince George, BC
V2L 3H9

It could not be plainer to the general public who the client for the testing contract was. When you look at the report, there is no interpretation there of the meaning of the figures. That interpretation was left to the MoE.

The legal entity, PGAIR, was not the client nor the interpreter. Neither do they have any authority to take action. Both the MoE as well as Northern Health do.

It states above

"Dr. Osei says had there been any credibility to the initial test results"

So, when a blood pressure reading is higher than normal, the steps taken by am medical doctor are:

1. test the meter ..... still high
2. test the tester ...... still high
3. .....retest the patient

We have not reached step 3 yet. The first two tests showed no problem from the looks of it.

It looks like the government employees on all sides are washing their hands of this incident ... why are they not apologizing ???

Ok, now we know that we have higher than acceptable levels of Formaldehyde. Lets stop beating up the ministry of environment. Get big enough to get past the finger pointing on peoples careers and start putting that energy towards finding out where the formaldehyde is coming from.

Then come up with possible solution. I am all for that air care for vehicles, makes sense since we live in a town with lots of inversions. Come on guys, stop trying to get a name for one self, lets do it for the good of all.

Wow, did this come from me, I must be getting old and my defences are down.

Silly question - how many smokers were there? ;-)

Actually, you might be surprised to read this from me. We actually do not know that we have higher than acceptable levels of formaldehyde.

It is just as bad, in any objective exploration process, to assume that an indicator that was higher than expected is in error as it is to assume that is an accurate reflection of the norm.

In order to determine which it was, additional tests need to be done after all other possible errors have been excluded.

The answer is simple, industry must spend the money to have the best scrubbers and best possible mitigation devices,they are available...

But there in lies the rub, industry will only do what it is forced to do.

Voluntary and industry don`t mix,oil n vineger.

Mandatory.

Like I said on other comment threads, Port Alberni used to stink,they cleaned it up.

Remember the acid rain in eastern US and Canada, huge problem, until government mandated mitigation techniques,no more acid rain.

Unfortunately big industry in Prince George is in the pocket of the BC Liberals.

Don`t bother blaming the NDP, who talked about greenhouse gasses in the 90s?

Very few, with internet and access to information people are demanding better.

Have you seen smog in Bejiing,google it up..Remember the smog that used to be in LA...The smog is gone in LA(People pressure)...Bejiing China,politicians bend to industry.

In 2010...Smog only exists where governments allow it.

FACT.

With the wildly varying numbers on the same street, its only logical to retest before panicking. The various militant air lobby groups have been stymied by a lack of evidence that there is something wrong with the air in PG. They have everything to gain by contaminating a sample site.

Go to it Grant G, I'm sure Canfor will install the pollution controls when you buy them. Put YOUR money where YOUR mouth is, not mine.

Gamblor, read a little before making statements like "The various militant air lobby groups". In fact PGAIR is a joint effort of industry and citizens. Might be a reason why no one heard of these results until now.

As I said in a previous post where Grant G so nicely called me a fool because I didn't agree with him, people will test at different places and get different results. If they had only done one test at the end of the street where there were "negligible results" no one would have even commented on this, it would be a non issue. Obviously there is something wrong with the tests as we were told in the first place. Hire a company that we know is not in the back pockets of anyone (government or PACHA), if there is such a company, and do proper tests and take it from there.

duffer has it. Hopefully one day we can have nice clean air like LA! Ba ha ha.

Take your own advice herbster and read my post. Where did I accuse PGAIR specifically of being militant? You pulled that one out of thin air. To spell it out for you, my comments were referring more to PACHA and rabid Millar Addition residents, ie those who have something to gain by salting an air sample. Not PGAIR, which has nothing to gain and has even lost by having its credibility damaged.

Millar addition residents have nothing to gain by salting air samples. That is simply a ludicrous statement. If anything they have lost a good deal of their homes value by the MOE's bungling of this whole sad affair.
And please,spell it out for me, how is PACHA "a militant air lobby group" Have they taken up arms, and are shooting at smokestacks?

Millions of dollars have just been annouonced for odour abatement, yet its not good enough for these people, nothing is. They don't even want to see the results of a retest - thats very fishy. They want too much public money showered on them after too much has already been spent. They should be happy with they have because there is no problem to begin with, this is backed up by the samples that have not been tainted. Industry was the first thing blamed before any real source was identified. Demanding strong action, industrial shutdowns and politician firings without reason is militant behaviour. So put down your chants and sandwich boards, there are many questions that need answers before heads roll. One tainted sample is hardly cause for concern.

A few questions come to mind. If the high readings of formaldehyde are to be considered abnormal what about the extremely low readings? Are people to accept high reading as a testing error but low readings as factual. After the testing was done and abnormal reading found was the instrument used to do the testing re-calibrated? Given the results of the testing you would think the MOE would have been interested enough to do some investigation into why the test result readings were abnormal.
Unfortunately it has come to the point that trust of statements by MOE, PGAIR, mayor Rodgers, and local MLAs is non-existent. Trying to keep the public uninformed and treating them like sheep just won't work any longer.

"Formaldehyde meeting a milestone." Just the fact that the residents had to have a meeting over this, the headline should've read, "Formaldehyde meeting a "millstone" around the necks of the folks in the Millar Addition.