Williams Lake’s most recent airshed management plan expired in 2016.
Jacinta D’Andrea administrates the Air Quality Roundtable and said she would like to see a new more concise plan that helps preserve and protect Williams Lake’s airshed.
“Our old airshed plan is this huge document that’s not really user friendly and took a ton of money to produce because it was doing all these measurements,” D’Andrea said.
“We have to start looking at wildfires and smoke as something that we are going to be dealing with in the future as a regular input. Our airshed planning needs to consider that and other inputs should be considered in light of that.”
Presently the roundtable has representatives from major industries, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Health, the CRD and the City.
“We also have Jane Perry on there as our environmental rep,” D’Andrea said.
In the past two summers the Williams Lake area experienced very poor air quality due to smoke.
As a result, the community needs to plan to ensure there are safe air spaces for people who are the most vulnerable, D’Andrea said.
“We need to be getting the information out there to those that need it so they do understand the very real health impacts associated with poor air quality.”
Area E director Angie Delainey, who represents the CRD on the round table, said they have reached out to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change for some funding to create a new airshed management plan.
“The previous plan was funded by the province and when it expired in 2016, with the wildfires, it got put off track because we were in crisis mode,” she said.
Read more: Airshed planning a must for communities
While the CRD board does not have an official opinion on Pinnacle Pellet’s application to amend its air quality permit, Delainey said she was happy when Williams Lake City Council determined it needed more information before it could make a decision on whether or not to write a letter of support.
“People see burning and they are triggered,” Delainey said. “It’s on the forefront of our community’s mind — the thought of introducing more particulate or smoke or contaminants to our atmosphere is a concern. It’s important to go after the funding to put an airshed plan in place.”
The Air Quality Roundtable is great for talking, Delainey said, but suggested it might be better to set up a committee.
“The committee could have experts, government, industry, and local government input and it could make recommendations on applications. It would be good to have an expert lens and one that is unbiased.”
D’Andrea said the expired plan provided a good base line, but she does not know how it impacted planning at the City.
“We need something that people can use to make decisions with and help evaluate. I think Pinnacle Pellet wanting to upgrade is a perfect example of why we need an airshed plan.”
She also said it is important for residents to evaluate their personal impacts on the airshed through their use of fossil fuels and natural gas.
“We all have a role to play. We look at industry really closely and they have to do all these permits. If you compare it to what all our vehicles are emitting, it’s probably comparable.”
As a whole, the community should be looking at decreasing emissions in every way possible, she added.
Read more: Roundtable works to improve air quality in Williams Lake
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