Council to have staff review Aurora LNG air shed concerns raised at Monday's council presentation

Luanne Roth providing the findings from a report she has worked on
reviewing some of the air shed concerns that the report has noted from
the proposed Aurora LNG project.

The proposed Aurora LNG terminal project was the subject of a presentation from a local environmental activist on Monday evening, as Luanne Roth, representing the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation, The Prince Rupert Environmental Society, as well as the local Fish workers union Unifor-UFAWU, provided some background information from their findings on the theme of air shed concerns related to the large scale development proposed for Digby Island.

Appearing as part of the Presentations to Council portion of Monday's Council session, Ms. Roth noted that she is assisting the Dodge Cove Improvement District in reviewing air quality issues as part of a working group with residents who live on Digby Island.

The bulk of her presentation involved her concerns over air quality should the Aurora facility be built as proposed, the findings of her review which she observed would see particulate levels exceed allowable objectives to protect human health for the urban area of the west side of the city.

To get the attention of those at Council and viewing at home, she highlighted the impact that she believes the project might have on the Graham Avenue Daycare facility, as well as to make note of the potential impact for residents of the Graham/Atlin areas of the west side.

In addition to the comments on the residential areas, she observed that workers at the Fairview Container Terminal would also fall into the area which her organization has raised their concerns over.

To bring her presentation to a close, Ms. Roth asked that the City look over the data that her group had assembled and then make comment to the assessment process for the Aurora LNG project. As well she also asked that City Council advocate that more time be provided for that assessment process, so more information can be collected and presented.

Ms. Luanne Roth outlined some of the concerns that the T Buck Suzuki Foundation
has highlighted when it comes to the proposed Aurora LNG terminal.
Ms. Roth reviewed her report for Prince Rupert Council on Monday evening.

Following the twenty minute overview, Council members offered up some observations on the themes presented from her report.

Councillor Thorkelson, who also serves as the head of the fish workers union in Prince Rupert that was among those commissioning the study led off the discussion, inquiring if Ms. Roth had shared her work with Hans Seidemann, the city City's Manager of Community Development who has been tasked to address environmental issues for the city related to the Aurora LNG application.

Ms. Roth noted that beyond some early correspondences, she had not been in recent contact with Mr. Seidemann regarding her review of the air shed concerns.

Councillor Cunningham then asked that Ms. Roth provide her report to Mr. Seidemann to review as part of his advice for council related to the Aurora LNG assessment process.

A larger overview of the discussion from Monday can be found on our Council Timeline.

You can review the full report for Council as part of the Agenda for the Monday Committee of the Whole session, it is found starting on Page 2.

The full presentation is also available from the City's Video Archive, starting at eight minute point.






More background on the Aurora LNG proposal can be found on our archive page here.

For more notes on Monday's City Council session, see our Council archive here, discussion points from past Council sessions can be found on our Council Discussion page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review