By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
Valemount Councillor Donnie MacLean is collecting evidence of dust events – periods of hours or days where the air has a noticeable dusty haze – in the village to present to BC Hydro. She hopes the evidence will encourage the company to take steps to mitigate the impacts of Valemount’s poor air quality, which she attributes in part to dust that gets exposed from drawdown of the Kinbasket Reservoir.
MacLean first spoke about this advocacy during the June 25th regular meeting of Council.
“I drive down the reservoir and take pictures documenting all these dust storms. I’ve used more than half a tank of gas already this week,” she said. “And I’m also soliciting others to send me pictures, time and date stamped, and I’m going to compile all of it in tabular form.”
She added that she’ll share the information she gathers with the Local Governance Committee of the Columbia River Treaty Canadian negotiations team, at the suggestion of other committee members.
About two weeks later, at the July 11th Clean Air Task Force meeting, MacLean elaborated on her efforts.
While the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy operates an air quality monitoring station in Valemount, MacLean believes the data it gathers doesn’t capture the severity of dust events in the village. The station only provides data on fine particulate matter – known as PM2.5, as it is 2.3 microns large – such as wood smoke and vehicle emissions. Data on PM10, which includes larger particulate matter like sand and dust, is not provided by the station.
“The monitoring conducted by the Ministry is unsuitable to characterize short-term dust events,” MacLean said.
“There were five documented dust events during the 2013 to 2019 period,” MacLean added, referencing a 2021 Air Quality Data Review commissioned by the Village. “That’s six years, and yet I documented more than eleven dust events this winter.”
The committee approved MacLean’s motion for the task force to advocate that BC Hydro begin measuring and reporting particulate matter larger than 2.5 microns.
She also moved to have the task force ask Valemount Council to create an email address designated for receiving video and photos of dust events. If this resolution is passed, a staff member will monitor the email and compile evidence for MacLean to present to BC Hydro and the Local Governance Committee.
In a follow-up interview with The Goat, MacLean said she’s waiting for the email address to be established before she begins soliciting more evidence – getting dust photos sent to her council email would overwhelm her inbox, she said. However, she looks forward to furthering her advocacy to collect hard evidence of Valemount’s anecdotal dust problem.
“I’m doing this as part of Council, as part of the Committee, and as a citizen of Valemount,” MacLean told The Goat. “The most helpful thing I’ve learned is not only to show the dust coming off the reservoir, but to show it in town… if you don’t show (Hydro) the dust coming into town, then they think it doesn’t affect Valemount’s air quality.”
