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Overview of Canada’s Air Quality Activities by Peggy Farnsworth

Overview of Canada’s Air Quality Activities by Peggy Farnsworth Director, Transboundary Air Issues Branch Environment Canada for presentation at EMEP Workshop on Particulate Matter Measurement & Modelling New Orleans, April 20 - 23, 2004. Content Outline.

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Overview of Canada’s Air Quality Activities by Peggy Farnsworth

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  1. Overview of Canada’s Air Quality Activities by Peggy Farnsworth Director, Transboundary Air Issues Branch Environment Canada for presentation at EMEP Workshop on Particulate Matter Measurement & Modelling New Orleans, April 20 - 23, 2004

  2. Content Outline • Air issues management in Canada • Role of federal government • Major drivers • PM and ozone Canada-wide Standards • Acid deposition • Canada-US Air Quality Agreement • International Agreements • Future directions/needs • Domestic • Transboundary transport • Emerging Issues - Intercontinental transport

  3. Air Issues Management in Canada • Environmental management in Canada is shared among the federal, provincial and territorial governments • Governments work together on issues of national concern under the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) and the Canada-wide Accord on Environmental Harmonization and its Canada-wide Environmental Standards Sub-Agreement • Standards Sub-Agreement provides the mechanism for the development of Canada-wide Standards (CWSs) that apply across Canada • CWSs can be emission related or ambient based

  4. Role of Federal Government • Atmospheric and environmental health science and research • National standards (e.g. new vehicles, fuels and products) • Management of toxic substances and their emissions reporting (NPRI) • Development, in consultation with provinces and territories, of national emission and ambient guidelines, codes of practice monitoring networks and air quality predictions

  5. Role of Federal Government • Negotiation of multilateral and bilateral international environmental agreements • In addition, The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 99) provides the federal government flexible legislative authority to regulate emissions of air pollutants to ensure health and air quality protection • Federal House in Order and Corporate Smog Action Plans by federal departments

  6. PM and Ozone Canada-wide Standards (CWSs) • Ambient CWSs for PM2.5 and ozone were approved by the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of the environment (except Québec*) in June 2000 • Ambient PM2.5 and ozone targets to be achieved by 2010 • PM2.5 – 30 mg/m3 as a 24-hour average • Ozone – 65 ppb as an 8-hour average

  7. PM and Ozone Canada-wide Standards (CWSs)Main Elements • “Best efforts” provision • Continuous Improvement (CI) and Keeping Clean Areas Clean (KCAC) provisions • Guidance document on achievement determination • Monitoring protocol • Guidance document on CI/KCAC being developed

  8. PM and Ozone Canada-wide Standards (CWSs)Main Elements • Set of Joint Initial Actions • Jurisdictional implementation plans to achieve targets by 2010 and for CI/KCAC (includes federal jurisdictional plan) • Reporting on progress in implementing all provisions of the CWS Agreement • Periodic scheduled reviews of the CWSs

  9. PM2.5 Current Situation

  10. Ozone Current Situation

  11. Canada-wide Acid Rain Strategy for Post-2000 • October 1998 – strategy signed by federal and provincial Energy and Environment ministers • Strategy includes • Setting targets and schedules for further reductions in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia • further discussions on additional reductions in the US • Keeping Clean Areas Clean is one of the commitments under this strategy

  12. 1996 – 2000 Wet deposition Critical Loads Acid Deposition Current Situation

  13. Canada - US Air Quality Agreement • Agreement signed in 1991 • “Ozone Annex” added to the Agreement in December 2000 • Currently evaluating the need for a “PM Annex”

  14. International Agreements and Commitments • UN-ECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP): • Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone

  15. Future Directions • 2010 review of the PM and ozone CWS • Tracking effectiveness of existing and proposed emission reduction initiatives • Evaluation of role played by ammonia in PM formation • EC working closely with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada under the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) on efforts to control and reduce emissions of ammonia to the atmosphere • Evaluation of the transboundary transport potential of ammonia gas and ammonia-related particles • Continued evaluation of transboundary movements of PM and its precursors between Canada and the US

  16. Emerging Issue -Intercontinental Transport • Currently more questions than answers • How frequent does it occur • What pollutants are at play • What are typical contributions • What is the frequency and magnitude of intercontinental transport high concentration events

  17. Wrap-Up • Introduced some of the main policy drivers in Canada • PM and ozone CWS • Acid deposition • Canada-US Air Quality Agreement • Introduce guidance for future direction/needs • Review of the CWS • Tracking effectiveness of emission actions • Transboundary transport • Intercontinental transport

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