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April 18, 2002
Chevron Refinery and Pollution Issues
Question to Joyce Murray, Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection
R. Lee: My question is to the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection. Maintaining the quality of the air we breathe is of the utmost importance to my constituents. However, a Chevron refinery in my riding has expanded its operations. It will increase the volume of emissions released into the atmosphere.
Can the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection tell us what measures she has in place to minimize the impact of these pollutants?
Hon. J. Murray: Clean air is one of the most important environmental issues that we face. The federal government actually has recently passed regulations to decrease sulphur in gasoline. As a result, Chevron in Burnaby will have to change some of their processes. They're saying that they may be requesting a permit for increased emissions.
Now, the previous government delegated the authority around those permits to the GVRD, so the GVRD will be making a decision on that permit. Actually, I think it's very clear that we would encourage Chevron to take every step that they can to not increase emissions.
Also, the reduction in sulphur in gasoline will improve emissions from cars in our airshed right across the province. We're very strongly in support of that regulation. |
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