Letters to the Environment Minister re Air Quality
To send a short pre-written letter re: Air Quality - Please click here!
To send a longer personalized letter, follow the instructions below:
Step 1. CLICK HERE to open your email composer. It will already contain the full list of recipients and a subject line but you can add, remove or change any of these.
Step 2. Below are a series of text elements which you can copy and paste to create your custom letter. When created this way there is no limit on how long the letters can be. If you like you can can combine all the pieces below into a single letter but you would probably want to do some editing.
Step 3. Add your full name and address at the end.
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Expert peer reviewers and citizens have identified serious concerns with how the consultants assessed risk for key pollutants NO2 and PM2.5. The consultants did not assess risk for these key pollutants according to World Health Organization standards, which would have resulted in identification of potential risk to human health.
Other concerns include the following:
- EA study results document that the air quality at Courtice is already compromised - Courtice has the highest NO2 levels of Toronto, Hamilton, Windsor and Sarnia (evident in figure 7-10, page 174, HHERAQTSR, Dec. 10, 2009)
- the EA indicates that the incinerator will contribute a very significant percentage to the Regional Industrial total for heavy metals cadmium, mercury, and lead, as well as dioxins/furans, all of which are extremely toxic
- the EA relies on the inexact science of risk assessment to determine safety of the incinerator, but risk assessment cannot and does not adequately assess, or assess at all, some of the major concerns and risks of incineration (including the effects of chemical mixtures and the emerging health effects of ultrafine particles emitted by incineration)
The Courtice air shed is already overburdened - the EA shows that:
- nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels measured at the site are the highest of southern Ontario urban centres;
- fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels are very close to exceeding the Canada Wide Standard;
- ozone (O3) is already in excedance of air quality criteria.
These pollutants are associated with serious health effects and the incinerator would add significant quantities of these and other respiratory irritants to the air shed.
Risk was assessed and characterized in the EA for these key pollutants by comparing estimated exposures against less stringent air standards instead of up-to-date Toxicity Reference Values (TRVs). It is documented in the EA that, had more stringent TRVs been used, potential risk to human health would have been identified.
Dr. David Pengelly, a professor at McMaster University. Dr. Pengelly has expressed concerns about the impact of emissions from incineration.
With increased waste diversion and greater participation in composting and recycling, the typical curb side garbage has changed vastly over the last 5-10 years. My household garbage is mainly plastic bags and packaging, which at this time cannot be recycled.
My question to you: Have the allowable, provincial emission standards for incineration been revised in the last few years to address the change in content of household garbage? Dr. Pengelly’s position was that up-to-date standards were not being used and therefore the potential health risk, imposed by incineration, is not being adequately measured.
Air quality considerations were not adequately weighted or represented in the Step 7 Site Selection report; the Site Selection report was severely criticized by citizens and by expert peer reviewers retained by the Municipality of Clarington.
