/ Q P F C [ 5 C V W T F C [ C O R O 5 W P F C [ R O R O 3 Thursday , D ecem ber 23, 2010 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m allow such a facility to continue to operate in Oakville. Existing facilities that agree to develop a five-year plan leading to a 25 per cent reduc- tion in emissions will be given approval to continue to operate. Those that do not agree to a reduction plan will need to convince Town council there is a public interest in allowing them to continue to operate despite their emissions. The changes, passed Monday, deal with the implementation of bylaw and the date affected facilities are required to deliver those emission level reports to the Town. These reports initially needed to be deliv- ered by Feb. 1, 2011, however, for the esti- mated 150 existing holders of a Certificate of Approval for air emissions under the provi- sions of the Environmental Protection Act the deadline is now May 1, 2011. While the Town has already conducted a number of workshops to educate the busi- ness community on the bylaw requirements, the Towns Director of Environmental Policy Cindy Toth said more outreach is needed. Its more to address some of the con- cerns weve heard from some of the poten- tially impacted facilities, to give them more time, she said. Feb. 1, apparently, is com- ing up very quickly. In her report to council Toth also said the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) has recently responded to the Towns request for provincial action on PM (particulate matter) 2.5, committing to an assessment of the need to revise the Provinces policy regard- ing the management of direct PM 2.5 emis- sions. As this assessment may have implications for the Towns Health Protection and Air Quality Bylaw, Toth called for some portions of the bylaw to be put on hold during the 15 to 18 months the Province needs to com- plete its review. With this review in mind, existing facili- ties that are not in possession of a Certificate of Approval will also be getting a break with their report submission deadline being pushed back to Sept. 1, 2012. The MOE review also means the report- ing requirement for existing major emitters will be pushed back to Sept. 1, 2012. These reporting date relaxations did not extend to proposed facilities, which are still required to report their potential emissions to council before establishing themselves in Oakville. This requirement has been in place since Feb. 1, 2010. Under the bylaw council has the power to stop major emitters from taking root in Oakville. A facility is considered a major emitter if its emissions exceed at least one of the thresholds for the following pollutants: more than 500 kilograms of PM 10 (particu- late matter) per year, more than 300 kilo- grams of PM 2.5 per year, more than a tonne of VOC (volatile organic compounds) per year, more than 2.7 tonnes of nitrogen oxide per year and more than 2 tonnes of sulphur dioxide per year. The Health Protection and Air Quality Bylaw alterations drew considerable interest from the public with more than 10 delega- tions addressing council on the topic during Mondays meeting. Nancy Robertson, of the residents asso- ciation Citizens for Clean Air (C4CA), praised the bylaw and cautioned council against delaying its full implementation too long. We want clean air. Everyone deserves clean air. In the absence of either provincial or federal air quality standards, municipali- ties have a responsibility to take action to protect the health and safety of their com- munities, she said. C4CA is proud that our town is showing the leadership and the vision to put a bylaw like this in place. We do not want you to wait for the possibility of provincial regulations after another 15 months of study. The haz- ards of toxic emissions are real. Lets be the leader on this and look forward to our bylaw being held up as an example to follow by the rest of the province. A letter by Grade 9 student Joanna Kadwell also called for action on air pollu- tion in Oakville sooner rather than later. I cant believe there are not laws already in place about how much toxins a business is allowed to put in our air. Not only that, but I cant believe there is not already some- one who takes regular measurements of the air quality and reports what the sample con- tains, said Kadwell. We need to have rules about this. We need to have something in place that will punish the businesses that are breaking the rules. This just makes common sense. In this town we already have recognized bad air. We need to do what we can to make this better. I am here representing my friends and classmates. If we dont do something today to turn this situation around what kind of air will we be breathing when I am a parent? Please put this bylaw in place as soon as possible. During his delegation Oakville Chamber of Commerce Chair Mark Brown said that while the chamber is committed to taking effective action to bring clean air to the community, the chamber continues to believe regulation of air quality is a provin- cial responsibility. He said the chamber had some issues with the bylaw alternations requesting council move all reporting deadlines for existing facilities to Sept. 1, 2012 and that to ease confusion these reports be modified so the information requested is the same as that requested in emissions reports for the provincial and federal governments. Neither request was approved. 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