The Prince George Air Quality Roundtable (PGAIR) was given a reprieve by city council on Wednesday.
In January city council announced plans to eliminate its $70,000 contribution to the air quality partnership as part of $1.99 million in spending cuts. On Wednesday council unanimously voted to restore the money to the budget, following a pair of presentations by PGAIR executive director Terry Robert and People's Action Committee for Healthy Air (PACHA) president Dr. Marie Hay.
"This is a critical time for PGAIR," Robert said. "In spite of the improvements, continued attention is need to improving air quality. Members of the PGAIR roundtable agree everybody deserves clean healthy air, and it is everybody's responsibility to achieve it."
Between 1987 and 2009 there has been a 73 per cent decrease in total reduced sulphur in the city's airshed. Fine particulate, known as PM 10, has decreased 28 per cent in the same time and ultra-fine particulate, known as PM 2.5, has decreased 16 per cent.
Those accomplishments are the result of approximately $190 million in air quality investments by local industry, he said. Those industries sit at the PGAIR table and work collaboratively within the partnership to make improvements.
Since 2006 the City of Prince George has been a leader at the PGAIR table, Robert said. The funds provided by the City of Prince George are, "used to cultivate other funding sources," he added. On average PGAIR funds $80,000 per year in air quality research and $120,000 in air quality monitoring.
"PGAIR has the goal of doubling, at least doubling, every dollar provided by the city," he said.
Hay said PACHA's board has significant concerns about, "the lack of leadership by council," on air quality and environmental issues. The elimination of the city's environmental services department and proposal to eliminate funding for PGAIR would be a step backwards for the city, she said.
"The issue of air quality has not gone away. We had two air quality advisories within a couple days," Hay said. "If you take this stance against the environment, then people will turn back to the old ways of being vehemently politically active."
Cutting the funding to PGAIR would, in effect, destroy the positive working relationship which exists there, she said.
"To date, the longest running air quality roundtable in B.C. is PGAIR. From PACHA's perspective, working with PGAIR has been a Godsend," Hay said. "When you cut the $70,000 you will .... successfully kill this organization."
Coun. Cameron Stolz moved to restore the funding for PGAIR. Council did not follow its normal budget procedure of postponing the decision to the end of the budget process, but approved the change immediately.
"I'm not sure why we'd wait," Mayor Shari Green said. "We have said, but not loud enough, that this is something we'd like to restore."
