The Facts About Air Quality and the Windsor-Essex Parkway

Statement

Windsor — The Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) study team wants the public in Windsor and Essex County to know the facts about the technical reports on air quality submitted to the Minister of the Environment on December 31, 2008 as part of the project’s Environmental Assessment.

Particulates and Air Quality

It has been asserted that the DRIC Human Health Risk Assessment did not look at larger airborne particles called PM₁₀. We used PM_2.5 because it is the more generally accepted measure throughout Ontario and Canada for estimating health impacts. Air quality analysis was conducted based on a work plan that was reviewed by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE), Health Canada (HC) and Environment Canada (EC).

Building The Windsor-Essex Parkway will improve air quality. In fact, all options studied by the DRIC study team would achieve overall improvement to air quality. The fact is, getting rid of traffic lights will eliminate stop-and-go traffic and reduce emissions. New cleaner fuel rules and (truck) engine technologies are also reducing pollution from tailpipe emissions.

The DRIC study team concluded that constructing tunnels longer than those proposed would not provide additional improvements in air quality in the Windsor Essex region.

Human Health

Others are saying information from the air quality report for the DRIC study was not used as a basis for the Human Health Risk Assessment – that’s simply not the case. We did use this information and it is standard practice to do so. The Human Health Risk Assessment showed that the Recommended Plan does not result in an increased health risk in comparison to potential future conditions if the access road is not built.

Transparency

The facts about what our air quality reports show continue to be readily available to the public. To remain transparent throughout the entire process the DRIC study team posted reports to www.partnershipborderstudy.com as soon as they became available. We continue to encourage stakeholders and the public to review the reports and the full body of work undertaken by leading experts and make their own judgment based on the facts.

The Ministry of the Environment coordinates the review process for the Environmental Assessment under the Environmental Assessment Act and has the power to approve, approve with conditions, or refuse to approve the project. We look forward to receiving the Minister’s decision.

For more information on the Environmental Assessment Report visit www.partnershipborderstudy.com

For more information on The Windsor-Essex Parkway which is part of the Recommended Plan visit www.weparkway.ca

This news release may be made available in alternative formats for persons with visual disabilities.

Media Contacts

Pat Smith
Windsor Border Initiatives Implementation Group
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Windsor
519-973-7359

↓ Download the PDF version of this document — 76 KB