Consolidated Environmental Management Plan for Burrard Inlet ...

Air Quality
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Consolidated Environmental Management Plan for Burrard Inlet / Existing Policy and Planning Initiatives in Burrard Inlet
A
ir and water quality are linked. Rain washes
the atmosphere and carries airborne
contaminants into Burrard Inlet’s watershed
and marine basin. Air quality issues are thus
included in the list of issues to be addressed by an
environmental management plan for Burrard Inlet.
Under provincial legislation, Metro Vancouver is
responsible for monitoring air quality in the region,
for controlling industrial, commercial and some
residential emissions, for creating long-term plans and
for conducting emission inventories. Metro Vancouver
uses a system of permits and regulations to help
manage the major sources of business and industrial
emissions and restrict these contaminants. Metro
Vancouver also monitors permitted and regulated
emission sources and enforces air emission limits.
Metro Vancouver co-ordinates and cochairs
the BC Locomotive and Rail Air Quality
Working Group; a collaborative effort of the rail
industry, Port Metro Vancouver and regional,
provincial and federal governments to reduce
emissions from rail transportation.
Metro Vancouver provides support to various federal
initiatives and industry emission reductions programs
and strategies through participation in the BC Marine
Vessel and Air Quality Working Group – a collaborative
effort of the marine industry, port authorities and
regional, provincial and federal governments to
reduce emissions from marine transportation.
In October 2011, the Metro Vancouver Board adopted
its third air quality management plan – the Integrated
Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Management Plan
(IAQGGMP). The IAQGGMP provides a vision, goals,
strategies, actions and performance measures that
will guide air quality and greenhouse gas management
in the region over the next decade. Included in
the plan are strategies to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases and air contaminants, including
diesel particulate matter. The actions address sources
such as non-road engines, rail locomotives, marine
vessels, ports and on-road vehicles, industrial
facilities and residential wood heating. The plan
also introduces new strategies to improve visual
air quality in the Lower Fraser Valley airshed.
Together with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency - Region 10, Environment Canada co-leads
the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound International Airshed
Strategy. This initiative is a multi-agency, international
co-operative effort to address shared air quality
management concerns in an area that stretches
from the Cascade/Coast Mountains to the east and
the Olympic Mountains and Vancouver Island to
the west. Members include federal, provincial, and
regional (e.g. Metro Vancouver) air and health agencies
from British Columbia and Washington State.
On March 26, 2010, the International Maritime
Organization (IMO) offi cially designated the waters
off North American coasts as an Emission Control
Area (ECA) in which stringent international emission
standards will apply to ships. These standards will
dramatically reduce air pollution from ships and
deliver substantial air quality and public health
benefi ts that extend hundreds of miles inland. In
practice, implementation of the ECA means that ships
entering the designated area must use compliant
fuel for the duration of their voyage within that area,
including time in port as well as voyages whose
routes pass through the area. Air quality modelling