Who is Responsible for Clean Air?
As individuals, we all play a major part in achieving clean air through the decisions we make. At the same time, all levels of government have important roles and responsibilities related to planning, regulating, monitoring and reporting on air emissions and air quality. Since air moves freely, it is important that the different governments work together in partnership. Agencies must also work with communities to achieve effective clean air strategies.
Pollution is Everyone's Problem
We all suffer the effects of poor air quality. Fortunately, each of us can make a significant contribution to cleaner air by consuming less energy. The choices we make every day, from the way we get to work to the products we buy, inevitably affect the quality of the air we breathe. The smallest effort, such as switching off lights at home, can contribute to reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions for the entire region.
Federal Government
CEPA
Through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), the Government of Canada has the authority to develop regulations related to air quality. These include measures to control vehicle emissions, improve the quality of fuel, regulate domestic pollution that impacts air quality in another country and limit the release of air pollutants that are assessed as toxic under the Act. They also include setting national ambient air quality objectives and guidelines to govern emissions from industrial sectors. CEPA's mandate is not only to protect the environment, but also human health. Its challenge is to achieve the best possible health and environmental protection while considering the feasibility and costs of reducing harmful emissions. In July 2003, ground-level ozone, particulate matter (PM) and their precursors were added to CEPA Schedule 1. This gave the federal government authority to take action to reduce these substances in the environment.
National Plan for Action on Clean Air
In the February 2003 federal budget, the Government of Canada committed $40 million toward the National Plan for Action on Clean Air. This plan focuses on four major areas: transportation, the industrial sector, monitoring, and reporting. Other elements of the plan include support for vehicle scrappage programs that take old cars off the road, new air quality monitoring stations and the expansion of emission inventory programs to better improve our knowledge about air quality in Canada.
A key component of Canada’s Clean Air Agenda involves providing air quality information to the public. Both the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) and the National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) Network are enabling Canadians to take measures to improve air quality and protect their health by tracking the release of pollutants into the air and by measuring smog and other contaminants.
Addressing International Air Issues
The Government of Canada has a mandate to work with the U.S. government to resolve international air issues. Environment Canada is working with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies toward the development of the International Airshed Strategy. This strategy, along with the scientific characterization of air pollution sources within the Georgia Basin–Puget Sound region, will help to support decisions about what, if any, are the best ways for Canada and the U.S. to work together on transboundary air quality.Currently, the Canada–U.S. Ozone Annex agreement measures cover Ontario, Quebec and the four Atlantic provinces. In 2002, the first reporting requirement of the annex was met, with ozone air quality levels reported to the public for these border regions. Canada is also considering less formal ways to make progress on air quality with our U.S. neighbours through enhanced air quality informationsharing, and working on mutually beneficial projects (such as emissions from marine vessels).
Border Air Quality Strategy
In June 2003, the Border Air Quality Strategy was announced by Government of Canada and the United States Environmental Protection Agency as a commitment under the National Plan for Clean Air. The goals of this strategy are to make progress on transboundary air quality and further reduce smog to improve health on both sides of the border. The Canadian and U.S. governments intend to accomplish this by developing new cooperative transboundary projects, which include the Georgia Basin/Puget Sound International Airshed Strategy, as well as a national study on emissions trading (for more information visit http://www.ec.gc.ca/canada_us/air/).
Air Quality Research
In the Pacific and Yukon region, the Government of Canada has partnered with provincial and local governments to study air quality and the effects of poor air quality, and to develop strategies to further reduce harmful air emissions. In 2001, in support of this goal, an important transboundary scientific collaboration took place between a team of 130 researchers from both Canada and the U.S. The Pacific 2001 Air Quality Study involved parallel work in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia and Puget Sound in Washington State. Scientists worked to cooperatively develop new information about the sources, movement and effects of air quality in this transboundary region.
In the Georgia Basin, this study showed that ammonia gas is a dominant pollutant source in the formation of haze in eastern areas of the Fraser Valley (largely from agricultural activity), while sea salt is more prominent in the west. This explains why haze appears different in different locations. Aerosols often concentrate in the Valley overnight, while pollutants can stagnate in the Strait of Georgia for several days until the winds shift, wafting them inland.
Other findings demonstrated the large amount of air emissions from the marine sector, including cruise ships, freighters and ferries, an amount of pollution similar to that contributed by motor vehicles. The measurements of pollutants during the Pacific 2001 Air Quality Study showed plumes drifting across Vancouver from large diesel sources near English Bay.
To address this issue, Environment Canada, Transport Canada and BC Ferries worked with a local engineering firm to test an emissions reduction technology on a vehicle and passenger ferry. This water injection system removed harmful pollutants from a diesel propulsion engine. Measuring its performance, they found that this technology reduced nitrogen oxides (NOx) by as much as 22%, and PM by nearly 20%. However, since marine vessels enter the Georgia Basin from around the world, international cooperation will be required to improve marine fuel quality and reduce emissions from this sector.
Reducing Greenhouse Gases
Natural Resources Canada's Office of Energy Efficiency is focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the residential, commercial, industrial and transportation sectors. Innovative programs such as Auto$mart and EnergyStar help consumers and industry to save money and make better choices in manufacturing and purchasing vehicles, homes and home appliances. In June 2003, NRCan announced $4.5 million in funds to support the development of hydrogen fuel-cell technologies, as well as a $9.6 million investment through Technology Partnerships Canada. Experts believe hydrogen energy will play an increasingly important role in the quest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and other sectors. With 87% of Canadian fuel-cell research and development taking place in British Columbia, the provincial government has also committed resources to these groundbreaking initiatives.
Provincial Government
In general, the provinces are responsible for the control of pollution from industry and commercial activities within their jurisdictions. In BC, an additional focus is the early introduction of more stringent motor vehicle emission and fuel regulations, and introduction of the AirCare and Scrap-It programs that target high-polluting automobiles.
The Waste Management Act is the primary environmental control legislation in the province. It prohibits, unless authorized, the introduction of business wastes to the environment, including air contaminants from commercial, industrial, municipal and provincial facilities, motor vehicles, engines and solid fuel burning domestic appliances. [Note: The Waste Management Act will be replaced by the Environmental Management Act in 2004]. The Act also grants authority to set fuel standards, set particulate emission limits, and establish labeling and testing requirements for new wood stoves, fireplace inserts and factory-built fireplaces manufactured after November 1994.
The British Columbia Action Plan for Cleaner Air was released in 1995. This plan focused on the Clean Vehicles and Fuels Program that led to new provincial policies, regulations and standards for motor vehicle emissions and motor fuels. These brought cleaner vehicles to BC earlier than to other parts of Canada. The Province is currently developing an airshed improvement plan that focuses on reducing existing threats to human health within a framework that will also address ecosystem threats (local, regional and global) and prevent future threats from emerging. It will address both clean and threatened airsheds.
Municipal Governments
Local governments in the Lower Mainland, working emissions inventories, air management planning and through their regional districts, focus on air monitoring, regulation of commercial and industrial emissions.
Greater Vancouver Regional District
Through the Waste Management Act, the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) is responsible for air quality management within its jurisdiction, which includes 21 cities and municipalities in the Greater Vancouver metropolitan area. The GVRD's Air Pollution Control Bylaw No. 603 sets emission criteria for residential garbage incinerators, fireplaces and wood stoves. The GVRD Air Quality Management Bylaw No. 937 defines how to implement the air quality components of the Waste Management Act in the GVRD. Control of industrial emissions is generally through a fee-based permitting system. The GVRD is introducing regulations to control emissions on a sector basis such as small boilers and heaters, ready-mix concrete plants and gasoline bulk terminals, for situations when site-specific permits are less appropriate.
In 1994, the GVRD Board approved a regional Air Quality Management Plan, and in 1999, the GVRD introduced the Air 2000 Program, designed to reduce emissions that affect both regional air quality and climate change. In 2001, the GVRD Board decided to update the 1994 Air Quality Management Plan and the 1995 Livable Region Strategic Plan as part of a new sustainability initiative for the region. The post-2000 Plan is now being developed.
Fraser Valley Regional District
In the eastern sector of the Lower Mainland, the Province delegated air quality planning authority to the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD). The FVRD is working with the GVRD and the Province to develop a common air quality management plan for the Lower Fraser Valley airshed. Regulatory responsibility for control of air emissions in the FVRD currently remains with the Province, although the FVRD has indicated that it will be requesting the same statutory authority for air emission control as the GVRD is granted under the Waste Management Act.
TransLink
TransLink is the agency responsible for policy and program development and the administration of all regional roads and public transit operations within the GVRD. The most visible air quality related program managed by TransLink is AirCare, a mandatory vehicle inspection and maintenance program that became the first of its kind in Canada in 1992. Other programs include transportation demand management efforts such as commuter trip reduction programs, transit priority measures and cycling paths. In 1999, the TransLink Board approved extending the AirCare program to 2006, in accordance with provincial motor vehicle standards and GVRD air quality policy.
Georgia Basin Action Plan
Following the success of the Georgia Basin Ecosystem Initiative, the Georgia Basin Action Plan (GBAP) is a federal and provincial government partnership to improve the health of ecosystems and communities in the Georgia Basin.
In April 2003, the federal environment minister announced a five-year contribution of $22.5 million, combined with an ongoing investment of $8 to 10 million from Environment Canada, for clean air, clean water, habitat and species protection, and improved environmental decision-making in the Georgia Basin.
Official government partners of the GBAP include Environment Canada, the BC Ministries of Water, Land and Air Protection and Sustainable Resource Management, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Parks Canada.
