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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, January 21, 2010 · 4 Critics fear bylaw would drive businesses away Continued from page 1 As a result of this action major emitters of fine PM could be designated as public nuisances. Under the bylaw, existing facilities causing such emissions would be subject to a oneyear transition before having to seek Town approval for their emissions. A person with appropriate expertise would conduct the peer review of a facility's application and the review and complete application would be submitted for comment to the Halton Region Health Department and posted on the Town's website. The public and the applicant would then have an opportunity to comment on the application and peer review and make delegations to council. Major emitters may have to pay a bylaw fee of $25,000 to cover the cost of the approval process, including hiring a qualified peer reviewer. The Town's Director of Environmental Policy Cindy Toth noted the bylaw is important because it seeks to remove a pollutant from the air that is extremely hazardous to human health. "There is considerable scien- tific evidence of serious health impacts of fine PM," she said. "Just over the last four years 30 studies of the health effects associated with exposure to fine PM have been published and these include studies on cardiovascular mortality, stroke mortality, respiratory function to name a few." Rodney Northey, a solicitor retained by the Town, noted the bylaw is also important because despite these studies linking fine PM to health problems, neither the provincial nor federal governments regulate it. This did not impress a number of the business leaders pres- ent during the meeting, who say the Town of Oakville is going about air quality improvement the wrong way. "I just feel they are focusing on the wrong area," said Bonnie Feeney, president and chief operating officer of Well Spring: Pharmaceutical Canada Corp. "Their own presentation showed a lot more PM comes from vehicle traffic than industry." Randy Goodwin, who works for an environmental consulting company, noted a major problem with the bylaw is that it will cause undo hardship to many businesses, which emit OPEN HOUSE Saturday, January 23rd 11am - 2pm Chisholm High Schools After School Programs Psychological Services 1484 Cornwall Rd., Oakville, ON 905.844.3240 www.chisholmcentre.com We Help Kids Overcome Learning Difficulties bankruptcy liquidation at Otello's Banquet & Conference Centre, 2273 Royal Windsor, Oakville OTELLO'S BANQUET Mon. Jan., 11am-8pm Tues. Jan., 26th 11am-5pm L 2 DAYS ON5Y 2 th Largest selection in North America Hundreds of styles, colours and sizes for all tastes and budgets. 100% top quality hand knotted rugs. o of 0%2ndfne 8 get the nd a If you have a news tip or story idea, call the Oakville Beaver at 905-845-3824. FREE THAT prices lower than bankruptcy Compliments of CARE Compliments of Oakville Audi 1345 North Service Road West, Oakville 905-844-AUDI Oakville Volkswagen 1345 North Service Road West, Oakville 905-844-3285 www.oakvillevw.com some PM, but not enough to be dubbed major emitters and regulated. "The problem is trying to figure out if you're in that threshold or not," said Goodwin. "I think the Town could do a better job, right off the top, of eliminating all the small ones from this without making them go through the burden of submitting their emissions and just target the big ones." Goodwin said he is also wondering why the Town is regulating fine PM when regulating air emissions is the job of the province, which apparently didn't feel fine PM was dangerous enough to regulate. David Martin, also from Well Spring, voiced concerns about what the bylaw will do to Oakville's competitive ability to draw in new businesses, especially when Oakville's closest neighbours do not have such a bylaw. "It is going to make industry think twice about coming to Oakville, if they have to do all these extra things here," he said. The meeting also feature workshop discussion groups, which raised other concerns including: · whether the bylaw would discourage businesses away from Oakville and add to the emissions problem by forcing more people to commute further distances to work. · Whether steps should be taken to ensure the peer reviewer was not biased against the business whose fate they are deciding. Oakville Chamber of Commerce Director John Sawyer said his biggest problem with the bylaw is its uncertainty in terms of the regulatory environment. "What they've said is initially they will focus on those (businesses) with environmental certificates, which makes sense, but then they've kind of left it open with what happens to the others. Business really needs certainty, people need to know well in advance how to prepare." The speed the bylaw is being pushed through with is also concerning to some who wondered whether the bylaw had a hidden agenda. "The cynical side of me feels that there is a lot of public outrage over the TransCanada plant and this bylaw makes it look like council is doing something," said Goodwin. TransCanada representatives were present at the meeting. When asked after the meeting whether the bylaw would affect their plans to build a 900megawatt gas-fired power plant on the Ford-owned lands of 1500 Royal Windsor Dr., Chris Breen, TransCanada spokesperson replied: "It's too early to tell. We're reviewing the preliminary information offered by the Town. We share everyone's concern for the environment and we look forward to contributing to cleaner air by generating electricity from natural gas." With the meeting complete Oakville Mayor Rob Burton thanked those present for attending. "Council and I value public consultation quite a lot," said Burton. "We benefit from our public input we make a better decision when we listen to our public input and this isn't the only public input that we listen to. One of the public inputs that we hear constantly is a very strong belief and constant complaint that we have the dirtiest air in Ontario. I have looked at the data and I know that we're not quite the dirtiest place in Ontario, we're just close to it, but the fact is people don't like it and they have long been corrosive in their criticism that we do nothing about it. This council and I are very serious about addressing this issue." A meeting where members of the public will have the opportunity to weigh in on the bylaw has been scheduled at Town Hall for Thursday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.