Air Quality Implementation Requests to Be Part of Budget Discussions

Monday, December 17, 2007 10:14 PM

The Air Quality Implementation Committee presented Council with a list of financial requests:

$30,000 for an Air Quality Co ordinator
$10,000 for odour study
$ 5,000 for source study
$ 7,000 for anti- idling campaign
$ 2,000 for E Fleet promotion
Education and awareness of Air quality issues :
- $3,000 media campaign
- $3,000 website development
- $3,000 promotional materials
- $3,000 public meetings and study results
- $2,500 air quality &warning light system
Amend the clean air bylaw to ban ALL recreational burning within the City limits
- rewriting bylaw could cost $12,000
$15,000 for a woodstove exchange program
$30,000 to review and upgrade monitoring equipment
$10,000 for future projects like emissions testing,

The requests are part of 30 recommendations to implement phase two of the clean air plan that has been developed for Prince George.

Mayor Colin Kinsley says he will support this kind of work when the budget process comes around..

Councillor Brian Skakun says while the report mentions industry, most of the action is focused on the individual, forcing changes on woodstoves, vehicle emissions, banning recreational fires on private property and expanding anti-idling zones. He thinks there will be difficulty enforcing some of the changes called for in the report.

Councillor Shirley Gratton reminded the authors of the report that the last time there was a plan to ban all recreational burning there was an uproar about banning the family weinie roast. Gratton says that recommendation may spark resistance again.

One of the major issues facing Council is that there needs to be clarification on what local government can ,and cannot do when it comes to rules and regulations that may cross the boundaries of the Ministry of the Environment.

City Staff say there will be a policy paper that should clear the "air" on those jurisdicitional questions when the Council meets for a Committee of the Whole meeting in late January.

Council has referred the requests to the budget discussions.

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Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 10:14 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: camoose on December 18 2007 12:29 AM

Yup, we need more studies for sure. You had better bring a fire truck with a built in bylaw officer to put out my grandchilren's weenie roast in the back yard. Same ol, same ol: it's the average Joe that is responsible for the pollution while business is sqeekie clean. After all it is easier to go after the average person than to go after industry that's polluting

Posted by: owl on December 18 2007 12:41 AM

"$ 7,000 for anti- idling campaign"

I think the best anti-idling campaign there is, is the increase in gasoline at the pump. Can't beat it.

Why anyone has to stuff money into that program these days is beyond me. Remeber, that is not all it costs. That is just the City's portion.

These people must be smokin' some good stuff.

;-)

Posted by: owl on December 18 2007 12:47 AM

odour study??? ...

we know the smell of money

we know the smell of rotten eggs

we know the sweet smell of wood drying in kilns ...

we know the smell of asphalt ....

we know the smell of sewer gases around the city's sewage tretment plant ...

we know the smell of sawdust ....

we know the smell of chips .....

we know the smell of formaldehyde...

are they using beagle hounds for this?

Posted by: owl on December 18 2007 12:56 AM

I heard they exchanged about 35 wood stoves in the last 5 or so years.

I have not noticed that I have been able to breathe any better since then. They must have been in some other part of town.

;-)

Posted by: owl on December 18 2007 1:02 AM

Geez ..... they go ahead and make bylaws with prevetn adult sotres from opening up and then get beaten at the supreme court level; they put abnormally high business license fees in place for an escort service and that is overturned; then they put in some law regarding operating processes for pawn shops that is overturned ....

And now they are afraid to put in some laws to protect our air and they don;t know waht they should do because they do not know the legal boundaries.

Go for it guy and gals. Take the plunge. You have done so in the past. Why stop now? Canfor? Business that can defend itself?

Posted by: owl on December 18 2007 1:04 AM

"The requests are part of 30 recommendations to implement phase two of the clean air plan that has been developed for Prince George."

Don't hold your breath. Phase 1 took almost 10 years and was never really completed to the extent they said it was.

Posted by: whitewater on December 18 2007 2:58 AM

Why don't we all just buy an air freshener?

How about some kind of farting bylaw?

The air that really needs a fresh exchange is in someones head.

Posted by: owl on December 18 2007 9:33 AM

As Robin Fairservice so nicely puts it in a ltter to the editor today, the only thing missing in the plan is action.

That from an engineer who knows the plants and worked for the MoE at one time. What better view can one get than that.

Posted by: Bridge on December 18 2007 9:52 AM

We also need some fresh air at City hall

Cheers