The Fraser Valley Regional District wants to make Metro Vancouver’s garbage incineration aspirations an election issue.
Abbotsford councilor, and FVRD board member, Patricia Ross says the Fraser Valley is already dealing with too much air pollution from Metro Vancouver.
"What is so frustrating for us is that of all the pollution in the Fraser Valley we only generate 14% of it. We feel very disrespected throughout this process and so do our residents."
Ross says it is not just what people are breathing in it is also the food grown in BC’s “bread basket.”
"Ozone has been proven to reduce crop production by up to 30-percent."
FVRD Environmental Services Coordinator Julian Zelazny says the already poor air quality will continue to decline if a garbage incinerator comes online.
"On bad air days we occasionally exceed the Canada wide standard for ozone and particulate matter also."
Zelazny says garbage can be dealt with by using simple principles like “reduce, re-use, and recycle” at much less cost to the bottom line and to people’s health.
"Things that are burned, like trash, emit nitrogen oxides in the air and when they combine with some other things in the air it forms ozone and than that drifts eastward, actually the highest concentrations in the province are measured in the city of Hope."
The FVRD has commissioned an independent poll they say will show a majority of people living in the Fraser Valley opposes garbage incineration.