Canadian Air Pollution Has U.S. Sources

  • Ontario is trying to fight air pollution, but is calling for action on the U.S. side to help. (Photo by John Hornak)

A government study released by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment confirms what Canadian officials have long suspected that the majority of Ontario’s air pollution comes from U.S. sources. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Cwiek reports:

Transcript

A government study released by the Ontario Ministry of the
Environment confirms what Canadian officials have long suspected:
that the majority of Ontario’s air pollution comes from U.S. sources.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Cwiek reports:


The study found that more than half of Ontario’s air
pollution originates in the U.S. The study’s authors say air
pollution flows across the border in both directions, but the
predominant flow is from the U.S. into Canada.


Arthur
Chamberlain is spokesperson for the Ontario Environment
Ministry. He says southern Ontario feels the greatest impact.


“There’s a fairly wide regional impact. Obviously, it’s a
greater issue particularly in the Windsor area because it’s
closer to Detroit. In Toronto, being a larger city, probably
only about half of the pollution that we would have on a bad
pollution day would be transboundary pollution.”


Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty recently hosted a conference
in Toronto promoting transnational efforts to improve Great
Lakes air quality.


McGuinty says the province is currently
taking aggressive steps to combat air pollution, but stresses
action on the U.S. side is vital as well.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Sarah Cwiek.

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