An air-quality study conducted for the proposed Ajax mine is in for more criticism this week.
UBC professor Dowe Steyn will present his review of the proposed copper and gold mine’s air studies at Thompson Rivers University on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
In a copy of the report provided to media, Steyn said KGHM Ajax’s studies — which project that amount of fine particulate, dust and other material that would fall on Kamloops — underestimate Ajax’s effects on the city.
Steyn notes Ajax’s air models assume the mine will be able to mitigate 90 per cent of its dust, a claim Health Canada, the Interior Health Authority and SLR Consulting, a firm hired by the city, have questioned.
Steyn said the mine should have modelled more conservative scenarios.
“I see no indication that emissions considered are anything but the most optimistic best case,” he wrote.
The report also questions whether the city can afford to increase its pollution thresholds at all, given the consultant’s findings on air quality in Kamloops.
“The overall logic underlying the conclusion of [Ajax’s] report is that the Ajax mine project will add very little to an already polluted city,” Steyn said, noting the model shows levels of fine particulate matter, which have been linked to various health problems, are already at the provincial threshold.
“If this is generally true, the City of Kamloops has no choice but to pursue an aggressive program of
emissions reduction to improve AQ for its citizens in North Kamloops,” Steyn said. “This means reducing emissions from all sectors — domestic heating, road dust, diesel emissions and, of course, all industrial emissions.
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“In such a situation, it makes no sense at all to allow a new industrial source of the pollutant in question (PM2.5), no matter how small its incremental effect.”
Steyn was hired to review KGHM Ajax’s modelling by Kamloops Moms for Clean Air, a group opposed to the proposed mine south of Aberdeen.
Steyn will share time Wednesday night with hydrology expert Kevin Morin and soils specialist Kent Watson.
Morin, who was hired by Kamloops Area Preservation Association and the Sierra Club, will report the Peterson Creek aquifer would be far more contaminated than KGHM Ajax’s consultants have reported if the mine goes ahead.
“I strongly recommend to people using water from the Peterson Creek Aquifer to have the well water tested (1) very frequently and (2) in perpetuity, now and in the future if the mine is built,” Morin said in a release from KAPA. “Or, to be more cautious, to avoid using the aquifer water.”
A question and answer session will follow Wednesday’s presentations.