REM’s builders must do more to protect children

Noise and air pollution from building Édouard-Montpetit station poses health risks, Mark S. Goldberg says.

The new REM light-rail system is Montreal’s most important public transit undertaking since the city’s métro was built more than a half century ago, with the potential to reduce traffic and emissions. And yet, construction of the REM station at Édouard-Montpetit does not seem to have been planned with the health of the public in mind. Located in an Outremont neighbourhood, right beside an elementary school and the Université de Montréal, the three-to-four-year project at Édouard-Montpetit will involve dynamiting and excavating a 20-storey elevator shaft and underground caverns, to create North America’s second-deepest métro stop. Essentially, it’s a mining project in a residential area. Despite the obvious complexities of such a project, the REM was not required to do an environmental-risk assessment study of the Édouard-Montpetit site before beginning construction. As a result, with children in such close proximity, we are looking at a public-health issue that needs to be addressed. Children are not small adults — they are much more vulnerable, as their bodies are still developing. In terms of air pollution, they breathe faster than adults, meaning they inhale more pollutants. They are also lower to the ground, where pollutants can reach peak concentrations. For children, the potential adverse effects are many, including stunted lung and cognitive development, and possibly cancer. Noise is equally troubling, and in children can interfere with speech, language acquisition, learning and concentration. It can increase blood pressure and at high levels cause hearing loss. The REM has built an acoustic wall around the site, but it only protects students on the school’s first floor — in some second-floor classrooms, kids are wearing noise-reduction headsets. The REM claims to comply with Quebec’s daily norms for noise and air pollution, but being within these norms does not mean that the exposures are “safe.” The World Health Organization recently classified air pollution as an “overlooked health emergency” for children, and in fact there is no threshold below which no adverse health effects can occur. Moreover, our Quebec norms were established without considering vulnerable people, such as children. Thus, meeting provincial regulations is no guarantee for protecting the children’s health, especially over a three-to-four-year project. With all these potential hazards, and given that the project is already underway, what can be done? Here are six recommendations: 1. Systematically test the rock down to the full 70 metres of excavation, to ensure it contains no radioactive materials or lead. 2. Raise the site’s acoustic wall to protect children on the school’s second floor. This should be easy for an organization that is building one of North America’s most complicated subway stations. 3. Routinely measure the noise and air in and around the school, throughout the project. Monitoring is not expensive and could prevent a host of health problems. 4. Set up an oversight committee of environmental health experts, community members and school representatives. All pollution data can then be scrutinized, and measures can be proposed if levels become unacceptable. 5. Make sure the community is aware of emergency measures in the event of an incident, for instance gas leaks or damage to the métro. 6. Bring in extra crossing guards. Children are unpredictable, and with two large trucks per hour, less space on the road and changes in bike lanes and crosswalks, the results could be tragic. The REM light-rail system is a massive project with a multi-billion-dollar budget. The costs of the above measures are trivial compared to the overall cost of the project, but they could make the difference between a successful venture and a toxic one.

Children are not small adults — they are much more vulnerable, as their bodies are still developing.