Dear Editor,
What are the effects of the proposed air emissions from the Weir Canada plant on Langley residents?
This is the time for Metro Vancouver to step up and declare that Campbell Heights shall be a zero emission zone. The Campbell Heights business park is way too close to farmland and residential areas for anything else to be acceptable! Metro Vancouver needs to encourage Weir Canada to be a leader and good corporate citizen by keeping them to a zero emissions standard.
Does Metro Vancouver have the same standards for emissions for businesses no matter where the business is located in Metro Vancouver or are there different standards based on what area they are in? If they are in fact the same across the board then I have to ask why? The air flow and dispersion, and therefore the effects, would be vastly different between having an industrial plant on the river and having an industrial plant in the middle of agricultural and residential lands. Industrial businesses adjacent to farmland and residential areas need to be held to a higher standard!
Has Metro Vancouver taken into account the cumulative effects of having plants like Weir, Ebco and the possibility of more industrial plants in the Campbell Heights area into account? Have they taken into account that the Township of Langley is projecting to add at least 26,000 more residents just aast of these plants? What are the cumulative effects of multiple plants and increasing density all within a few kilometres?
Why is all the focus on the air quality? What are the effects on the soil and water? These two items need to be addressed as this plant is adjacent to farmland that use the soil and water for their crops, and adjacent to residential neighbourhoods that get their water from wells and the aquifer we’re all sitting on.
At the Open House Weir spoke of their Stakeholders - shareholders and employees. That was really short sighted because Stakeholders also include their neighbouring businesses, farms and residents. What do the other businesses in the park have to say about the emissions? How is it going to affect their business?
Metro Vancouver needs to have a zero emissions standard for the businesses in Campbell Heights to protect the residents and the farmland around it.
Amy Morose, Brookswood