Archive for January, 2010

Public Forum

On Sunday, Jan. 31 at 2 pm there will be a public forum in the TRU Alumni Theatre at the Clock Tower featuring talks by Professor Douw Steyn of UBC on “Air Pollution in the Kamloops Airshed: Overview and Future Improvements” and Professor Penny Powers of TRU on “The Threat to Our Health”. This public forum is a response to the recent announcement the Ministry of Environment approved the development of a gasification plant for waste railway ties on Mission Flats Road.

This public forum is co-sponsored by the TRUFA human rights committee TRU School of Nursing.

All are welcome.

For more information please contact Derek Cook, Chair of the TRUFA human rights committee at 250 828 5244 dcook at tru.ca

MP McLeod’s Statement Regarding Gasification Plant

Many citizens in Kamloops have expressed concern to me regarding the decision by the provincial Ministry of the Environment to approve a permit for the Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp.’s (ACC) application to build a plant that will gassify railway ties.

I would like to state that I personally believe that Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), the body responsible for funding the gasification project, should not have approved funding for an initiative that does not have local government support. Kamloops Council is unanimous in its opposition to this project.

I have pursued this matter in Ottawa with the Department of Natural Resources and was told that SDTC is an “arms length” organization and is therefore not a “federal authority” as defined under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Thus, a federal environmental assessment did not automatically trigger in this case. Nevertheless, I have serious concerns about this process and its lack of environmental controls and reporting requirements.

With that in mind, I will personally be making formal representation to both the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Natural Resources regarding this case. I will also meet with representatives of SDTC this Friday, January 22nd, in Ottawa to get some clarification from them. Without local government support and a proper environmental assessment I cannot give my support to ACC’s project.

-30-

For more information: Cathy McLeod, M.P.

250-851-4991

Please pass this on to as many people as you can.

Date: Saturday, January 30, 2010
Time: 10:30am – 5:00pm
Location: City Hall then march to 618-B Tranquille Road (Terry Lakes Office)

For those of you who do not want to partake in the march you can meet at 618-B Tanquille Rd at 12:00pm JAN 30th/2010, the march will take place at 11:00am so it should be down at Tranquille by then

The MOE (Ministry Of Environment) has just given the thumbs up to proceed with the gasification plants proposal on Mission Flats by a company called the ACC (Aboriginal Cogeneration Corporation), even though our city had a unanimous 9-0 vote against it. The MOE is ensuring us that their will be no toxins or emissions escaping from the plant based on no hard scientific data. The fact is there is no other facility like this anywhere in the world and due to our compromised airshed and the fact that B.C. does not have an emission standard for nanoparticles, there is no way of monitoring these toxins.

Source: European Commission, Environment DG
Jul. 11, 2008
Wooden railway sleepers, or crossties, soaked in creosote are used in railway tracks across Europe. However, wooden sleepers are gradually being removed and disposed of, to be replaced with concrete ones. New research suggests that many of the wooden sleepers exceed the critical creosote limit set by the European Union and when they are disposed of they should be treated as hazardous waste.

Creosote has been used as a wood preservative for many years and contains toxic chemical compounds including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Some of these are a danger to human health as they are carcinogenic. Creosote is therefore also classified as potentially carcinogenic.

High numbers of creosote sleepers are installed in typical railway tracks, for example, there are approximately 8.5 million along 15,000 km of railway line in Sweden. While sleepers remain embedded in railway tracks, the creosote is considered to be environmentally safe. However, upon removal, if the total creosote content is greater than the limit set by the European Union, of 1000 ppm dry weight (1g per kg dry weight), the sleepers should be classified as hazardous waste and disposed of according to the regulations1. Under the EU directives2, 75/442/EEC, 91/156/EEC and 94/67/EEC, strict precautions are in place for the safe disposal of sleepers as hazardous waste3.

As the costs associated with hazardous waste storage and disposal are higher than for ordinary waste, there is a tendency among financial stakeholders to underestimate the creosote content in sleepers. When sleepers are burnt as ordinary waste, some carcinogenic compounds are released.

To determine whether creosote concentrations generally exceeded the critical limit set by the European Union, researchers in Sweden measured the PAH content of creosote in samples taken from railway tracks, which represented the generic population of used sleepers. According to international standards, it is suggested that creosote content is represented by the total concentration of sixteen of the PAH compounds (PAH16), including seven that are classed as carcinogenic (PAH7).

The content of compounds found in creosote varies, so the researchers suggest that a critical limit of 150 ppm PAH16 (dry weight) should be set to represent the lower limit of a hazardous concentration of PAH16. Sleepers with levels of creosote content above than this should be classified as hazardous waste and disposed of in the appropriate manner. The general concentration of creosote was, nevertheless, found to be significantly above the EU’s critical creosote limit. Therefore, all creosote railway sleepers should be considered as hazardous waste and disposed of accordingly.

Factors affecting the concentration of creosote in sleepers were also investigated, including the type of wood used in sleepers, the nature of the embankment materials, how long crossties had been in place and whether crossties were used in switches and/or railway yards. The research suggests that these all had a substantial impact.

http://www.environmental-expert.com/resulteachpressrelease.aspx?cid=8819&codi=34006

Public Forum on Democracy, Incineration and Health

Sunday, January 31st at 2 p.m. at TRU Clock Tower Theatre there will be a public forum featuring talks by Professor Douw Steyn of UBC on “Air Quality in Kamloops” and Professor Penny Powers of TRU on “The Threat to Our Health”.

This public forum is just one response to the attempt to turn Kamloops into the pollution capital of BC from the Tournament Capital of Canada by allowing a toxic waste incinerator to operate in our city.

This public forum is co-sponsored by the TRUFA human rights committee TRU School of Nursing.

All are welcome.

For more information please contact Derek Cook, Chair of the TRUFA Human Rights Committee at 250 828 5244 .

UBC Faculty > D.Steyn http://www.eos.ubc.ca/about/faculty/D.Steyn.html

Douw Steyn
Professor
Boundary Layer Meteorology, Mesoscale Meteorology, Air Pollution Meteorology.
Profile

B.Sc. University of Cape Town (Physics) (1967) B.Sc.(hons.) University of Cape Town (Physics & Applied Mathematics) (1968) M.Sc. University of Cape Town (Physics) (1970) Ph.D. The University of British Columbia (1980) Post-doctoral Fellow at The University of British Columbia (1980-82) Faculty at the University of British Columbia (1982-present). Study Leaves: Colorado State University, KNMI, ETH Zurich, University of Athens (1988-1990); CSIRO Canberra, NIES, Tsukuba (1996-1997); JRC Ispra (2002/2003). I served UBC as Chair of Atmospheric Science (1994-1998), Director of Science One Program (1999-2002), Chair of Environmental Science Program (2008-), Associate Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Interim Principal, College for Interdisciplinary Studies (2003-2006).

I am a member of the UBC Institute of Applied Mathematics www.iam.ubc.ca , the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability www.ires.ubc.ca and the Liu Institute for Global Issues www.ligi.ubc.ca
Research Interests
Air Pollution Meteorology

My research is primarily driven by an interest in the polluted atmosphere, particularly at the regional scale. I conduct both field measurement and numerical modelling studies in order to pursue these interests. I have been involved in a number of large air quality field studies, Pacific 93, Pacific 2001 and MAP-Riviera. I also work on this topic with Peter Jackson (UNBC), Christian Reuten (research associate), Bruce Ainslie (research associate) and Stoitchko Kalenderski (Doctoral student). I collaborate in the Centre for Aerosol Research http://www.chem.ubc.ca/research/CAR.shtml.

Model Evaluation

I have a particular interest in model evaluation/validation, and collaborate with Stefano Galmarini (JRC, Ispra) and ST Rao (USA EPA) on this topic. I am a member of the steering committee of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII) http://aqmeii.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

Boundary Layer Meteorology

I have an interest in the atmospheric boundary layer, particularly in regions of complex topography and coastline. I collaborate with Stephan deWekker, Christian Reuten and Magdalena Rucker on this topic.

Mesoscale meteorology

I have strong interest in mesoscale meteorology and environmental fluid mechanics. I have conducted a number of observational, scaling and numerical modelling studies of sea-breeze and slope flow dynamics. I also on this with susan Allen, Christian Reuten (research associate) and Magdalena Rucker (postdoctoral research fellow).

Teaching

I presently teach in the Environmental Science Program and the Atmospheric Science Program and am involved with the Carl Weiman Science Education Initiative at UBC www.cwsei.ubc.ca .

Conference Organizer

I am Chair of the Scientific Committee of the NATO/SPS International Technical Meeting on Air Pollution Modelling and its Application. www.int-tech-mtng.org/
Selected Publications

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Last Updated: October 23 2009 09:29:30 AM PDT