Arbus wants City to tells us about bad air days

NEWS RELEASE

JEFF ARBUS WARD 6 COUNCIL CANDIDATE

************************* Arbus calls for City Council action on air quality

SAULT STE. MARIE - (October 11) - Jeff Arbus, candidate for City Council in Ward 6, says it may be time for the City to enact a bylaw to ensure that citizens receive timely information about threats to air quality.

A recent media report described smog in the West End of the City.

In the report, Essar Steel admitted the smog originated from a maintenance operation occurring at the coke ovens.

Essar notified the Ministry of the Environment, as it is required to do for such situations.

“Essar has shown a willingness to deal with air quality issues, and improvements have been made. This was a routine maintenance operation but the community was not informed in a timely way,” says Arbus. “More can be done. Wouldn’t it be better to notify the community before an operation is to take place? That way if a spill is anticipated, people will know what to expect. At the very least, the community should be notified as soon as the incident occurs. It seems to me that this is the fair and right thing to do, at least as much as is possible,” adds Arbus.

Arbus proposes that a committee be set up, under the leadership of the next City Council, and including industry, the health sector, business, education, and concerned citizens.

The committee, “Clean Air Sault” would be a joint venture to develop strategies to inform the community of air quality incidents and other air quality issues.

These strategies could include the development of a right-to-know by-law.

Arbus points to Sudbury and Hamilton as two industrial cities that have such committees, with timely information provided to the public.

Arbus says: “Steelmaking or making wood and paper products, to use two examples, are not always the cleanest of operations. Efforts have been made and should continue to be made to reduce source pollution.

"Despite best efforts, incidents do happen. It’s sometimes the nature of the operation, or an equipment failure, or a regular maintenance. People understand this.

"But citizens have a right to know if pollutants escape into the air. Citizens should know in a timely fashion, in order to take steps to safeguard their health and welfare.

“If we can immediately inform the community about threats to water quality, we should be able to do the same about air quality.”

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