Editor:
Re: Air quality to be monitored, Sept. 18.
White Rock task force chair Coun. Grant Meyer said the air-quality unit will “either confirm what people are thinking or put their minds at ease.”
Having the air-quality monitoring unit testing air quality now is a mistake, to say the least. The number of coal trains going around the Peninsula is unbelievably low.
Wish it was like this all the time, since we live close to the tracks.
The coal trains are currently being re-routed through Abbotsford because of maintenance and upgrades, and will be finished by the time the air monitoring ends on Oct. 8. Then, the trains will be back to 24-plus runs of more than 100 cars each per day– not including Amtrak.
This is what was happening this past winter and spring. You could not go to the waterfront for one hour and not have a heavily loaded freight train going by. I know, because I live across the street. And I can show Meyer the coal dust on my deck.
Metro Vancouver approved the expansion of the Fraser Surrey Docks for more coal trains. They picked a very nice, low-traffic time to monitor air quality. They should be doing this monitoring when coal train movement is in full swing of 24-plus trains per day. Then you would have an accurate air-quality picture by the beach.
This air monitoring by the so-called task force is nothing but a joke and a complete insult to the residents of White Rock.
Steven Ivanyi, White Rock