Opposition councillors call for environmental sampling stations for Montreal's 'black lung' in the East

Montreal councillors are calling for two new sampling stations in Montreal's east end and for the provincial government to create a public registry of environmental information, as required by law.

Two opposition city councillors are concerned about the arrival of new industrial projects in what they call the "black lung of Montreal," an area where they say air pollution is associated with numerous health problems.

Ensemble Montreal councillors Julien Hénault-Ratelle and Alba Zúñiga Ramos are calling on Valerie Plante's Projet Montreal administration to require the implementation of new air quality sampling stations in the Assomption-Sud-Longue-Pointe and southern Tétreaultville sectors.

According to the councillors, the current sampling station is too far away from industries to have a real picture of the air quality in the residential neighbourhoods in the east of the city.

"The only sampling station in the borough is at the western end of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, so when you take into account the prevailing air currents in the area, unfortunately, the data from the station shows us the air quality in the Ville-Marie borough and not in the area where the heavy industries are present," said Hénault-Ratelle, referring to the numerous factories that emit pollutants in the east of the city.

"Adding the considerable increase in trucking traffic and train traffic, road congestion due to the repair of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel and Highway 25, the closure of several ramps of the Souligny interchange, and the arrival of other large-scale projects such as the Ray-Mont Logistiques container transhipment platform, we will be faced with a perfect storm that will have a negative impact on the air quality of the sector."

The Tétreaultville councillor said that citizens in the East have historically suffered the most from the negative effects of air pollution in Montreal.

Life expectancy in Montreal's eastern neighbourhoods is nine years lower than in certain sectors of the West Island, according to data released by the East Island of Montreal health and social services centre (CIUSSS-EIM) in 2016.

Hénault-Ratelle believes that "air quality is one of the factors" that explains "this major discrepancy."

IMPACT ASSESSMENT REQUESTED

Ensemble Montréal is also asking the Plante administration to collaborate with the director of public health to conduct a health impact assessment of the development of the east end of the city as a whole.

"This would make it possible to estimate the impact of the development of a sector as a whole by ensuring the measurement of several indicators such as air pollution, noise, heat islands and access to green spaces," an opposition party news release reads.

ENVIRONMENTAL REGISTER OVERDUE

The opposition members are also asking the Plante administration to put pressure on the Quebec government to finally implement the public registry provided for in the Environment Quality Act, starting this year.

The Environment Quality Act has been in force since 2018. Section 118.5 of the Act requires the Environment Ministry to maintain a public registry containing a range of information on industrial projects and activities.

For example, the register must contain the description and source of contaminants caused by a project, the type of release into the environment, or the conditions that a proponent must comply with, prohibitions and specific standards applicable to the carrying out of the activity.

Five years after the law came into force, the register still does not exist.

"If we want the East End to stop being known as Montreal's 'black lung,' we must have the ambition to reverse this trend and ensure that Montrealers enjoy sustainable development that takes public health and the environment into consideration," said Zúñiga Ramos. "This public registry would allow the citizens of the East End to know if the industrial activities located near their homes are safe and respect the rules of environmental protection."

Two weeks ago, Environment Minister Benoit Charette told The Canadian Press that he had asked his ministry's teams to "present a timetable for the rapid implementation of this register, which will allow better dissemination of information to the public."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 11, 2023.