Meeting:  Wednesday, November 25, 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

John Crozier, Councillor, Village of Warfield

Marylynn Rakuson, Community Rep.

Others in Attendance:

Libby Nelson, Mayor, Village of Fruitvale

Dr. Nelson Ames, former MHO & THEC member

Mike Martin, Teck Trail Operations

Cheryl Yates, Interior Health

Andrea McCormick, SNC-Lavalin Environment

Ruth Beck, Circle B Services

MEETING MINUTES:  Dated September 10, 2009

• Accepted as presented

REPORTS

Interior Health

• Fall 2009 children’s blood lead testing clinic results
  • Presentation of participation rates and blood lead results by Jacquie Johnson
  • Presentation is attached to minutes, and in “Reports” section on www.thec.ca

1.     Steve commented that the clinic participation rates (overall participation of 74%, with 83% of target age group participating from the higher risk areas near the smelter) continue to be outstanding, compared with those in similar programs in other communities. Steve commended Jacquie for increasing participation rates over 2008.

2.     Steve commented that the results of the survey on the Home Renovation Support Program show that it is worth making increased efforts to expand awareness of the program, as the percentage of home renovators who reported using program was high (74%) among those who said they were aware of the program.

3.     Ruth noted comments made by Dr. Ames recently that the program should be improved to ensure that all renovators follow the program, because it seems that every year, there are children who are exposed unnecessarily to construction/renovation dust.

4.     Nelson noted that it is important to emphasize that slide 13, which shows the numbers of children in various blood lead ranges, includes all children tested this fall, not just the target age group/area, so the denominator is 144, not 100.

5.     Nelson remarked that the number of children older than 36 months who participated seems high, given that they weren’t specifically invited for testing unless they had previously been in the Case Management group.  Jacquie replied that many of those older children had been tested in the last two years, when the target age range include children up to 60 months, and their parents just wanted them to come in again.

o   Presentation of comparison with other sites, time trend analysis for Trail blood lead data, quality control data and environmental data by Steve Hilts (included in same Powerpoint presentation)

1.     Steve noted that Trail continues to be at the forefront in terms of reduced lead exposure among smelter sites, but that the average blood lead level in Trail pre-school children has been essentially steady over the past six years. Trail’s average of 5.6 µg/dL is higher than the U.S. national average (most recently measured at 1.7 µg/dL) and the average level found in Hamilton, Ontario (3.0 µg/dL, based on results reported for 41 children tested).

Teck

• Presentation of report (attached)
• Home renovations support program:
  • Ruth noted that it appears that a high proportion of people using the HRSP are also participants in the blood lead testing program, based on a comparison of the data for HRSP use from Mar-Nov 2009 (22 users) and the data from the survey during the clinic (17 users between Sept 2008 and Sept 2009).
• Soil assessment and yard remediation/assistance:
  • Dieter asked whether Teck would be doing follow-up monitoring of clean, replaced soils. Andrea responded that follow-up monitoring would be started in 2010 and would continue for some 3-5 year, or more, depending on results.
• Lower Columbia Ecosystem Management Plan
  • Omitted from report (summary handout attached to minutes)
  • Steve indicated that timing of stakeholder consultation for LCEMP is uncertain
  • Nelson asked whether the establishment of the Fort Shepherd Conservancy Area and an endowment fund for its management, is an example of the kinds of actions that to come out of LCEMP. Steve replied that the Fort Shepherd is a good example - something that Teck went ahead with ahead of development of the plan and which the company hopes will be recognized as an ecological off-setting action.
• Air quality
  • Update as per attached report

Consultation Working Group

• Consultation planning and discussions with Ministry of Environment
  • Ruth summarized that the “pre-consultation” with key stakeholders had led to a tentative conclusion that the “Wide Area Site” approach to formal approval of a “remediation plan” for Trail was preferred overall, there remained some concerns. Subsequently, the Ministry of Environment has indicated a willingness to seriously explore whether the approach might be modified, through changes to the Act and Regulation in 2011, in order to retain the positive aspects of the current Wide Area approach, while minimizing any negative aspects.
• Recommended next steps towards public consultation
  • The Consultation Working Group recommends proceeding with the public consultation in spring 2010, with the scope to include a review of programs and goals and update and discussion on the mechanism(s) for formal provincial approval.
  • Recommended next steps:

1.     Write up a summary of the November 16^th meeting, to send to the MoE for review/agreement:

• What was agreed to at the meeting
• Steps the THEC will be taking to continue with consultation
• Outstanding issues and who is responsible for follow-up on each

2.     Develop clear and succinct information to use in reconnecting with all the people with whom we connected during the “pre-consultation”.

o   Mike Martin asked what exactly is meant when we refer to “the approval” and Ruth replied that there are three facets:

1.     Legal approval by the MoE of elements of THE Program which the Ministry would have authority to approve,

2.     Overall approval of THE Program by THEC and implementing parties

3.     The “sign-off” or “endorsement” by the community.

NEXT MEETING

• Feb. 2, 2010

Teck Report

Home Renovation Support Program

• Being renamed to Home Renovation Support to better reflect the majority of program use.
• Newpick up location for safety supplies at Century Vallen - 1608 Bay Avenue
• Storefront set up at SNC Lavalin for the Community Programs Office - 1319 Bay Avenue
  • reception area
  • worktable
  • computer station
• Waiting on final logo design to order brochures and window decals
• HRSPrequests for Fall 2009 - 8
  • September - 2
  • October - 5
  • November - 1
• Total requests in 2009 - 22

Soil Assessment and Yard Work

• Assessment
  • Garden Sampling:

§  44 requests in 2009

o  Shallow Yard Assessment (Case Management):

§  3 properties tested following results of fall blood testing

§  No results available yet

o  Deeper Yard Assessment (Tadanac)

§  8 properties sampled this fall

§  Looking for “historical buried residue”, found previously on portions of 2 properties

• Remediation
  • Gardens - 7 properties
  • Yards (Case Management) - 6 properties
  • Soil and Sod Delivery (Prevention) - 10 properties
  • Yards (Tadanac) -wrappedupwork on the 4 properties started in 2008

Air Quality/Emissions Update

• Data charts in Powerpoint Presentation
• Lead:
  • unusually high lead in ambient (community) air in first three quarters of 2009 - approximately 0.5 µg/m³ (WHO guideline level). Still well below BC Objective.
  • return to typical levels so far in Q4 2009 - approximately 0.3 µg/m³
  • no increase in stack releases this year (in fact, continuing to decrease)
  • Trail smelter’s releases of lead to air are lowest in industry.
  • cause of increase in 2009 not positively determined, but most likely related to Copper Drossing Furnance baghouse performance (recently replaced all bags and seals) and a new, drier lead concentrate
• Arsenic:
  • Unusually high arsenic in ambient (community) air from late 2006 through mid 2009 - approximately 0.06 µg/m³. Still well below BC objective.
  • Return to typical levels so far in Q4 2009 (approximately 0.03 µg/m³)
  • Stack emissions of arsenic were higher in 2007, 2008, 2009. Main source is refinery scrubber stack, which has several processes feeding into it. This area has been, and will continue to be next year, main focus for arsenic emission reductions.
  • Trail smelter’s releases of arsenic to air are amongst lowest in industry.