Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
National

Central Alberta Region Exceeds Air-quality Limits; Environment Minister Shannon Phillips Concerned

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 09 Sep, 2015 03:51 PM
    EDMONTON — Alberta's environment minister says results from a national testing program show the province is on track to have the worst air quality in Canada.
     
    Shannon Phillips said high levels of fine particles in central Alberta pose no immediate health risk, but the findings require immediate action from the provincial government.  
     
    "This includes a review of technology that could be used to reduce harmful emissions," she said after the results were released Wednesday. "We are also looking at the licence review process to see how we can ensure industrial emitters are meeting the new stricter national standards."
     
    She promised a plan to address the situation in about a month.
     
    Phillips said the government is also considering whether to introduce emissions standards for vehicles as part of its ongoing effort to rewrite Alberta's climate change policy.  
     
    The results show the Red Deer region has exceeded levels for fine particulate matter. Those particles form in the presence of sulphur and nitrogen dioxides, the main components of smog.
     
    Although their origin hasn't been pinpointed, the particulates are thought to come from a combination of industrial sources — especially coal-fired power generation — and vehicles.
     
    Four other regions of the province — the lower Athabasca, upper Athabasca, North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan — are approaching the same levels seen around Red Deer. Those zones must develop plans to keep their levels from getting worse.
     
    "We are on track to have the worst air quality in Canada," Phillips said.
     
    The measurements are an attempt to gauge general air quality in an area, not to provide health guidance.
     
    The results, the first from testing initiated by the country's environment ministers in 2012, also found significant levels of ozone throughout the province.
     
    The report only looked at particulates and ozone and did not measure for contaminants such as mercury or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are considered highly toxic.
     
    However, particulates are capable of being absorbed into the body through breathing. They are believed to be linked to asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases, premature delivery and birth defects.
     
    Ozone, while naturally occurring in the upper atmosphere, is thought to harm respiratory function at ground level.
     
    Air-quality concerns were also recently expressed for an industrial area northeast of Edmonton, where a U.S. lab found short-lived plumes of highly toxic chemicals such as benzene.
     
    Phillips was cautious about the possibility of expanding Alberta's air monitoring. 
     
    "What we're focused on is preparing the management responses to this new set of ... standards."
     
    She said the government is considering its overall approach to monitoring as part of a new environmental policy framework.
     
    The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment said Wednesday's results are no surprise and called for the phase-out of coal-fired power generation in the province.
     
    “There are viable economic, non-polluting alternatives that can be brought in fairly quickly to produce rapid improvements in air quality,” said spokesman Dr. Joe Vipond.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Pan Am Athletes Village Needs Months Of Work Before New Owners Move In

    Pan Am Athletes Village Needs Months Of Work Before New Owners Move In
    Competitors in the summer's Pan Am and Parapan Am Games left the athletes village weeks ago, but it will be months before residents of the new downtown Toronto neighbourhood can move in.

    Pan Am Athletes Village Needs Months Of Work Before New Owners Move In

    Imprisoned Canadian Journalist Mohamed Fahmy Suffering In Prison: Wife

    The wife of a Canadian journalist imprisoned in Egypt says her husband is trying to be strong but she knows he's having a hard time with being thrown behind bars yet again even though he's innocent.

    Imprisoned Canadian Journalist Mohamed Fahmy Suffering In Prison: Wife

    'Clean' Hydroelectric Power Poses Northern Methylmercury Threat: Study

    'Clean' Hydroelectric Power Poses Northern Methylmercury Threat: Study
    A new study by Harvard University researchers suggests hydroelectric projects will put more methylmercury pollution into northern ecosystems than climate change.

    'Clean' Hydroelectric Power Poses Northern Methylmercury Threat: Study

    Congress Working Committee Extends Sonia's Term By A Year, Lambasts Modi Government

    Congress Working Committee Extends Sonia's Term By A Year, Lambasts Modi Government
    BJP leader and union minister Smriti Irani hit hack at the Congress president over her "hawa baazi" remark, saying "whenever Sonia Gandhi targets us, people of India come to support Prime Minister Modi".

    Congress Working Committee Extends Sonia's Term By A Year, Lambasts Modi Government

    Flawed Science, Lack Of Consultation Cited As Ruling Ends Fracking Water Licence

    Flawed Science, Lack Of Consultation Cited As Ruling Ends Fracking Water Licence
    The Environmental Appeal Board has overturned a water licence granted to an oil and gas company in northeastern British Columbia, ruling the licence was based on bad science and bad faith.

    Flawed Science, Lack Of Consultation Cited As Ruling Ends Fracking Water Licence

    Public Fears Putting Uranium Mining On Same Footing As Shale Gas In Quebec

    Public Fears Putting Uranium Mining On Same Footing As Shale Gas In Quebec
    Fears about radioactive contamination may close the door to uranium mining in Quebec just as public angst shelved shale gas extraction in the province in 2011.

    Public Fears Putting Uranium Mining On Same Footing As Shale Gas In Quebec