More air-quality testing is planned for Mirror next year, as the data collected during last spring and winter was inconclusive about how much local rail yards are affecting the local atmosphere.
Kevin Warren, executive-director for the Parkland Airshed Management Zone (PAMZ), said some Mirror-area residents expressed concerns that the rail yards on the west side of town were causing air pollution.
Air quality testing was done in response, using PAMZ’s Martha Kostuch Portable Air Quality Monitoring Trailer and sampling equipment from Alberta Environment.
But most prevailing winds during the testing periods came from a southeasterly direction instead of a westerly one. “The winds came more from a direction associated with the town itself” than the rail yards, said Warren.
The report concluded that no pollutants exceeded the applicable Alberta Ambient Air Quality Objectives. While the guideline for fine particulates was exceeded during a single hour, Warren said these particulates could have been stirred up by things like in-town traffic. “It’s not a huge deal because it was just for an hour.”
PAMZ intends to bring the monitoring trailer back to Mirror in 2012 in hopes of getting more winds coming from the direction of the rail yards.
“It goes without saying that locomotives emissions can (worsen) air quality,” said Warren.