Meeting:  Thursday, September 10, 2009

Trail City Hall - Meeting Room No. 2

7:00 pm

Committee Members in Attendance:

Dieter Bogs, Chair, City of Trail

Jacquie Johnson, Interior Health Authority

Brad McCandlish, BC Ministry of Environment

Steve Hilts, Teck Trail Operations

Valerie Pitman, Interior Health Authority

Graham Kenyon, Community Rep.

Clare Dewitt, Community Rep.

Craig Adams, Community Rep.

Others in Attendance:

Andrea McCormick & Mark Stromberg, SNC-Lavalin Environment

Mike Martin & Darin Cooper, Teck Trail Operations

Chris Stroich, BC Ministry of Environment

Ruth Beck, Circle B Services

Alyn Edwards, Peak Communicators (by phone for portion of meeting)

MEETING MINUTES:  Dated May 20, 2009

• Accepted as presented

REPORTS

Interior Health

• Jacquie reported that IH identified a total of 177 children to contact for blood lead testing this fall. This includes all children aged 6 to 36 months living in the target neighbourhoods (all City of Trail, plus Rivervale), plus children aged 36-60 months whose previous results warrant continued follow-up, plus children aged 37-60 months, new to the target area.
• Steve noted that this is a notably increase in the number of children invited, from 143 in 2008.
• Jacquie reported that approximately 70% of appointments have been booked, and noted that some of the parents whose children are at lower risk, based on previous results, are electing to bring their kids back in for testing.

Teck

• Steve distributed a brief report (attached).
• Dieter asked about availability of the Ecological and Human Health Risk Assessment reports. Steve replied that the Eco RA reports are on www.teck.com and the Human Health RA summary report is on www.thec.ca. In addition, the reports are provided to the Trail Public Library. Dieter asked that the final summary reports be provided to City Hall in hard copy.
• Darin reported that special testing was conducted at the refinery last week to confirm that whether the proposed improvements being considered for the refinery scrubber will be effective.
• Dieter asked about the status of the “fingerprinting” equipment for air emissions and ambient air monitoring. Darin reported that the equipment is functioning fine, and data analysis is progressing, but the “fingerprinting” of sources and matching them up to measurements in the community is proving to be more difficult than hoped, due to the degree of variability in emissions and weather conditions.

Communications Update for the Consultation Program

• Alyn Edwards gave a summary and progress report on the communications plan and draft materials for the consultation. The new video was previewed by the committee and Alyn noted that the very fact that the committee had produced this video might be newsworthy in itself. A key communications piece to prepare next is the community newsletter, which should flow quite easily from the Fact Sheets and FAQs that have already been drafted.

Property Issues Task Group

• Recommendation regarding approach to formalizing the Trail Area Health and Environment Program
  • That the THEC proceed with seeking formal Ministry of Environment approval for the Trail Area Health and Environment Program and designation of a Community Program Area (Wide Area Site), subject to support/endorsement from the affected municipalities and rural areas.
• This recommendation was adopted by consensus by the THEC. The precise form or expression of support/endorsement from the affected communities is to be determined. Dieter indicated that it is most likely that City support will consist of receipt by Council of a report from the THEC at the conclusion of the public consultation, as this is the procedure followed in all undertakings by the THEC.

Consultation Working Group

• Recommendations regarding 2009 Public Consultation Program
  • That Brad coordinate the further review/revision of draft media release number one through the Land Remediation Section of MoE, the Public Affairs Bureau and Minister’s Office
  • That Nelson Ames look into the possibility of the Provincial Health Officer providing a quote about the Program hitting all of its goals for children’s blood lead levels.
  • That the public consultation proceed, with media releases on October 6 and October 8, consultation launch October 8, and the main public open house event on October 20.
  • That the evaluation plan for the consultation proceed as presented, without polling, and with additional questions tracking the representativeness of consultation participants, and their level of support for THE Program

DECISIONS

• Proceeding with Consultation Plan, as per latest schedule (above).
  • Supported by consensus
• New goals to be proposed for THE Program:
  • Blood lead:

§  For children aged 6-36 months living in the blood lead testing area, the average blood lead level will be 4 ug/dL or lower by 2015.  This average corresponds approximately with 95% of children having blood lead levels less than 10 ug/dL (the international level of concern).

o   Air quality:

§  For lead and arsenic in community air, to return to, then surpass the industry-leading performance levels of recent years in Trail.  New standards for lead (0.20 µg/m³ in Ontario) and arsenic (0.006 µg/m³ in the European Union) are proposed as longer term targets for Trail. (Levels of lead and arsenic in community air are below applicable objectives for British Columbia. Stack emissions from the smelter are below permit limits and among the very lowest in Canada for the sector.  However, in the past several years, concentrations have risen slightly from the lowest levels that were achieved in the 2001-2005 period.)

o   Participation:

§  For children aged 6-36 months living in the blood lead testing, to achieve at least a 75% participation rate in annual fall testing clinics

§  To find ways to measure and increase participation in the Home Renovation Support program within the next year.

o   All supported by consensus

• Letters to formally advise BC MoE of proposed THE Program and consultation plan, and of desired future amendments to the Regulation
  • Supported by consensus

NEXT MEETING

o   Review blood lead testing and public consultation results:            Wednesday, November 25^th

Postscript to Minutes as of November 5, 2009:

• The Public Consultation has been postponed, due to an identified need to continue positive discussions about the options for formal approval of the program, with the Ministry of Environment and with the City of Trail and other local governments. A new schedule for public consultation has not yet been set, but it is now most likely to occur in spring 2010.