Aurora LNG air quality the focus for presentation to Council this evening

Council will hear a presentation
tonight on air shed concerns related
to the proposed Aurora LNG project

Prince Rupert City Council will wade into the discussion on LNG once again this evening, as Council members receive a presentation related to concerns over air quality measurement projects for the Aurora LNG project proposed for Digby Island.

As part of tonight's Committee of the Whole Agenda, Council members will be hear a presentation from Luanne Roth, a North Coast Energy campaigner with the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation.

A review of her talking points for Council tonight provided to the Agenda for tonight's Council session,  notes that Ms. Roth is coordinating an expert review of the Aurora Assessment for the T.
Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation, Prince Rupert Environmental Society and the United Allied Fishermen and Allied Workers Union-UNIFOR.

The review for Council also advises that she is assisting the Dodge Cove Improvement District with air quality issues as part of a working group with residents who live on Digby Island.

Her review for council will express concerns related to the air quality projections by Aurora when it comes to air contamination over residential areas of Dodge Cove and Prince Rupert, with Ms. Roth's findings suggesting that Aurora has underestimated the impact on air quality in the community.

One area highlighted in the report for council tonight, raises concerns over the air shed over the Graham Avenue area and how Ms. Roth and her group believe that the impact would exceed government objectives.

Graham Avenue Childcare in Prince Rupert for instance, would in fact exceed government objectives to protect human health –if Aurora LNG is built on Digby We would like to stress that right now Graham Avenue Childcare has great air and is a very safe place for children!!

The information provided for Council's consideration also reviews a number of previous findings and offers up a contribution to the  comments presented as part of the Aurora Application.

Ms. Roth's notes for Council can be found from the Agenda for the Committee of the Whole starting at page 2.

She will speak to Council members as part of that Committee portion of the night, that element of tonight's proceedings will come following the Public Hearing on the Seniors/Elders residences for Green Street and just before Council's Regular Council session proceedings.

The topic of the Aurora LNG proposal is one that has captured the attention of City Council, which has discussed the theme a few times this year.

Aurora officials appeared at Prince Rupert city Council in February to provide an overview of their plans, at that time the Mayor and Council outlined some of their thoughts on the project and the impact it may have on Prince Rupert, in addition to the civic issues for the project Mayor Brain also offered up significant sympathy towards the concerns for the residents of the Dodge Cove area in the past.

The Mayor also outlined some of his frustrations with the Aurora process back in December through a North Coast Regional District session.

As well, City Council provided for a lengthy contribution to the comment process related to the Aurora Proposal, submitting a four page presentation back in March

You can review more of the background on the Aurora LNG proposal from our archive page here.

Notes related to their work on their assessment process can be found on the Aurora LNG website.

For more notes related to tonight's City Council session see our archive page here.