Vehicles cause most air pollution

On Feb. 20, 2015 the Vancouver Sun printed an article by Larry Pynn and Chad Skelton, “The Top 10 Air polluters in B.C.”

Yes, P.G. made the list at No. 4, PG pulp and Paper and intercontin, operating as Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership.

After the top 10 the article goes into an extensive list of other point-source polluters of all types, examples are given of garbage dumps, sawmills, mines and many other types of stationary polluters. The article ends with an interesting observation about pollution in general.

Point source polluters are only 29 per cent of total pollution in BC. Transportation is the major source at 40 per cent and other categories are put at 29 per cent.

Recent letters to the editor in the P.G. Citizen are slamming a new proposed petrochemical plant in Prince George.

The latest “stinky smog” complains about smog.

Well it appears that a lot of that smog is coming out of the 100,000 plus vehicles that commute daily around Prince George or transit through the city on one of two major highways that intersect at Prince George.

Point-source polluters like the proposed olefin petrochemical plant in Prince George are easy targets for people annoyed about air pollution for the simple reason that they are stationary.

If air pollution is really a concern to the letter writers opposing development in Prince George they should take on the difficult moving targets of tail pipes. A reasonable summation as pointed out in the Vancouver Sun is that tail pipes produce more smog than anything else in B.C. Wayne Martineau,

Fraser Lake