Environment & Health Concerns Raised As Operations Set To Increase At Island Airport

CityNews.ca looks at some issues surrounding expanding operations at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport in a three-part series.


As the recent opening of the new $50 million terminal at the island airport heralds in a new period of increased flights and improved service for travelers, some local residents believe their concerns about the environmental and health impacts of the expansion are being ignored and describe themselves as “neighbourhood canaries”.

Toronto Public Health officials have also raised concerns about air quality and water safety and claim they haven’t received sufficient answers from the federal agency that operates the downtown runways.

Brenda Roman, who has lived at the waterfront for nearly 25 years, was recently diagnosed with an obstructive lung disease called bronchiectasis and is worried about the potential health effects of increased pollution.

“We are especially affected by the airport down here on Bathurst Quay,” she said.

Local family physician Dr. Pieter Jugovic, who’s spoken out against the airport expansion in the past, offered a grim prediction.

“I have every reason to believe that people living in this neighbourhood can expect lives to be shortened because of what’s going on,” he said.

The Toronto Port Authority (TPA) announced last December its plans to nearly double the number of available slots at the island airport to 212 from the current 120 and it’s reaching out to the market for more commercial carriers. The new terminal opened to passengers Sunday.

In an effort to offset increased pollution, TPA president and CEO Geoff Wilson said facilities at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (BBTCA) are virtually all powered by renewable energy. He also noted the Q400 plane used by his sole commercial tenant, Porter Airlines, is considered an “environmentally sound aircraft compared to what’s being operated today.”

“Environmentally, this is going to be a long, long mission for us and we’re very happy to do it,” he said.

The TPA has dedicated $1 million to create protective islands and fish habitat wetlands at Tommy Thomson Park.

According to Toronto Public Health, there has been no comprehensive environmental assessment conducted since operations ramped up at the airport in 2006, when Porter started offering commercial regional service.

The TPA said it is currently conducting an extensive air quality assessment and plans to share its findings with the Board of Health.

“[The Toronto Port Authority has] had to do aspects of an environmental assessment … through the federal government, but it’s largely had to do with the physical structure of the terminal itself when they expanded that,” Monica Campbell, manager of the environmental protection office of Toronto Public Health, told CityNews.ca.

“They have done some studies prior to 2006, but certainly they have not done, to our knowledge, a comprehensive air quality study and those were some of the recommendations that were made by the board at its January meeting.”

The Toronto Board of Health issued six recommendations for the TPA at a meeting on Jan. 18, at which several concerned waterfront residents made deputations. The board requested an air quality assessment. It also suggested the TPA provide a full list of chemicals used at BBTCA and that Toronto Water test water pumped from the airport’s holding tanks into the city sewer system for possible traces of deicing fluids, particularly ethylene glycol, and other cleaning chemicals.

Representatives from the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) attended that meeting and outlined that agency’s methods of monitoring air quality and containing and recycling chemicals at Pearson International — a plan Campbell described as “progressive”.

Campbell said there were no representatives from the TPA at that meeting. Ken Lundy, director of BBTCA, said the TPA wasn’t invited, but Campbell said the federal agency was given sufficient notice of the gathering.

“We don’t know what happens at Toronto city centre airport,” she said. “We would wonder if, because of the proximity of the runways to the water, we would wonder if there’s movement of the deicing fluid into the water and would be somewhat concerned about the aquatic impact.”

CityNews.ca contacted the TPA for comment on chemical containment. The agency hasn’t yet responded to that request.

“As far as deicing goes, that is all done in areas that have full containment so there is definitely no runoff on those locations,” Porter Airlines spokesman Brad Cicero said.

Toronto’s medical officer of health, Dr. David McKeown, issued an October 2009 report claiming available information on operations and environmental activities at BBTCA were outdated. The report also claimed requests by Toronto Public Health to obtain up-to-date data from the TPA went unanswered.

The TPA announced some environmental initiatives, including efforts to reduce aircraft emissions and idling enforcement for ground vehicles, in a Nov. 13, 2009 letter in response to Dr. McKeown’s report. According to Campbell, that was the TPA’s last official correspondence with the city’s Board of Health.

“Environmental policy is very important to us,” Wilson said. “It’s not just about we want to look like good neighbours, we have real opportunities here to really do things to ensure that we are a good and functioning neighbour.”

shawne.mckeown@citynews.rogers.com

Here are the issues we’ll look at in the next two parts:

Tuesday – Public consultation and community involvement

Wednesday – Concerns over traffic safety on the roads around the airport ferry dock

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