The air we breathe

John Kimantas
Nanaimo News Bulletin
Apr 23 2005

It's a sunny week for a workshop at Karen Sato's home in rural Cedar, and cars of the participants line the front lawn of the Cedar Heights Crescent home.

The topic for Karen Sato's class is consegrity - wellness support - and Sato has chosen the Cedar location as her base for its quiet rural nature, one that fits in well with the workshop's theme.

On this unusually warm April afternoon, however, there's one fly in the ointment - a rotten egg-like smell of sulfur that for some reason seems to settle in pockets and valleys across the Cedar area in areas like one near Woobank Road.

For pollution, this area is likely only to see it become worse. With the construction of the Duke Point natural gas-fired electrical generation plant, this neighbourhood is essentially "ground zero" - the closest cluster of residential properties to the proposed power plant.

Cold start-ups will have the worst local effect. During these, the predicted highest concentrations of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions will be within 300 metres of the stack; the nearest residences are 700 metres away.

Experts say even the worst exposures won't be a health risk. In the closest area, once combined with emissions from Harmac, nitrous oxide levels are expected to reach 178 parts per million. That's below World Health Organization guidelines and less than half of what the Environmental Assessment Office refers to as "the federal government objective."

Sato, given her background, is particularly attuned to the energy of an area. Her initial reaction at the prospect of the plant was fear, she says.

But after a walk in the woods and seeing wildflowers blooming, however, she felt more confident that all will be well.

Her attitude in combatting the risk is philosophical.

"Adding more fear will generate more fear and then it will be that much more harmful," she says.

Most neighbours tend to share the same general lack of concern. In a conversation with three other families in the MacMillasn Road area - the closest residences to the Duke Point stack - none expressed concern. In fact, all three said they had not even followed the controversy.

One other person with no concerns about the construction of the Duke Point plant is the man with his nose closest to the city's air quality monitoring.

The monitoring equipment, a collection of unassuming electronic consoles, sits below air tubes in a climate-controlled but otherwise unremarkable office on the third floor of the Water, Land and Air Protection office on Labieux Road.

Warren McCormick, an air quality meteorologist, is charged with checking the
station several times a day.

The Nanaimo station is a minor one, checking ozone and sulphur dioxide levels.
The ozone is the feature associated with urban smog. Sulphur dioxide originates from fuels with sulphur in it, such as oil and gas.

Day after day the machines monitor the air, and day after day the readings come out the same: that Nanaimo's air quality is good.

There are exceptions. McCormick says one occurs in the spring when the ozone levels, due to global background levels or special weather events, put the ozone level slightly above the "good" and into the "fair" range.

The other time of concern is in the fall when the fine particulate matter level goes high.

McCormick notes that those readings coincide with open burning, especially when coupled with periods of clear skies and light winds.

Another air quality station monitors Harmac for particulate matter known as PM10, a harmful pollutant that can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract, affecting breathing.

Another measure taken at Harmac is for TRS, totally reduced sulphur, a sulphur compound that is reduced because it doesn't have oxygen.

TRS is the focus of emission control not because it's particularly harmful, but because all pollutants tend to be lessened when TRS levels are reduced. TRS is also responsible for the kraft mill smell associated with Harmac.

"It's the one people notice the most," McCormick said.

While the smell is an indication of pollutants, McCormick said the ability to smell TSR is no indication the level is dangerous.

"Some people can actually smell it at levels lower than our instruments can measure it," he said.

If figures show Nanaimo's air quality is good today - and enviable if you live in places like Chilliwack, where the province's air quality is at its worst - it's the future that is causing most distress.

Opposition is aimed squarely at large projects: the Duke Point power plant and the hog fuel burner at Coastland Wood Industries.

McCormick is one of the few in favour, a position earned through his inside knowledge of emissions.

He doesn't expect things to get worse.

"I think it will be barely measurable," he said.

It's a position mirrored by the Environmental Assessment Office. The office's 2002 assessment report on the Vancouver Island Generation Project - Duke Point - gives the plant a clean bill of health.

The key finding: that the proposed plant would not have a significant impact or even an incremental impact on air quality, with emissions well under established criteria.

It's a view not shared by its critics. And there are many. For the Environmental Assessment review process, the office received about 400 submissions. Only five were in favour.

Despite the outcry, the opponents have failed at every stage.

It's a split just about right down the middle: officials in agreement, and the general public opposed.

Next: How the two sides can be so far apart.