Report - Agence canadienne d'évaluation environnementale

The regulatory framework
Impacts on the inhabited area and human activities
The project’s impact on air quality is assessed by taking the concentration of a
pollutant that is present in the environment referred to here as “baseline”. The
maximum cumulative concentration for each contaminant in a given location is
obtained by adding the anticipated contribution from construction site activities or
terminal operation to the present level.
The proponent’s impact statement compared the predicted concentrations during
construction and operation of the LNG Terminal to the standards set by Quebec’s
existing Regulation respecting the Quality of Atmosphere (RQA) [Q-2, r. 20] and Draft
Air Quality Regulation (PRAA), published November 16, 2005 in the Gazette officielle
du Québec but which still has not been enacted by the government.
The federal government submitted a bill, entitled Canada’s Clean Air Act, to set national
objectives for air pollutants and greenhouse gases to reduce risks to health and the
environment (DB37). In regard to human health, a document from Health Canada and
Environment Canada, published in 1998 and entitled National Ambient Air Quality
Objectives for Particulate Matter recommends 25 µg/m³ for PM10 and 15 µg/m³ for PM2.5
on average over a 24-hour period (DB60, p. 22). However in 2000, the Canadian
Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) set a maximum pan-Canadian
standard for PM2.5 of 30 µg/m³ in ambient air (maximum over 24 hours). This value was
set as an interim benchmark by the MDDEP and subsequently as a standard by the
PRAA 1 .
Current air quality
In Quebec, a network of air quality monitoring stations allows the MDDEP to oversee
air quality in certain regions. It must be noted, however, that there are no such
stations in the area of the proposed LNG terminal or even in the city of Lévis. To
make up for this absence of data, the proponent, in consultation with the MDDEP
picked monitoring stations in the existing network judged to be representative of the
area where the project will be built.
In order to establish the best baseline for the Lévis area for all the contaminants
referred to in the impact statement, the proponent used data gathered from the
closest monitoring stations located in urban, rural, and industrial settings. Three
stations were chosen in the city of Québec: the Des Sables station, located in the
urban and industrial areas of the Limoilou district, which measures SO2, NO2, CO and
1. Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs, Critères de qualité de l’air, fiches
synthèses [On-line (January 22, 2007): www.mddep.gouv.qc.ca/air/criteres/fiches.pdf].
Rabaska Project – Implementation of an LNG Terminal and Related Infrastructure 187