qathet Regional District’s board will consider sending correspondence to the RCMP and BC Conservation Officer service regarding outdoor burning of prohibited materials.
At the April 30 committee of the whole meeting, Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick said the committee had received correspondence from a Texada Island resident who has had repeated issues with a neighbour who is openly burning plastic and styrofoam outdoors.
“When you contact the report and poachers and polluters (RRAP) line to report this is going on, it often takes a day or a couple of days before they can send someone out to Texada, and by that time, the fire is long-since out,” said McCormick. “The local RCMP have said they could enforce it if there was a bylaw regarding open burning of plastic and styrofoam, but there is no bylaw. That is what the writer is writing about. She is asking if we would consider such a bylaw.”
McCormick proposed a motion that staff explore opportunities for a no noxious substance burning bylaw.
City of Powell River director Cindy Elliott asked, since it is illegal to burn plastics and styrofoam, is it true that a bylaw is required?
“The RCMP sometimes say those kinds of things, but it’s not true because there are other laws that they could enforce,” added Elliott.
qRD manager of emergency services Ryan Thoms said in 2021, directors received correspondence from Electoral Area A where there were similar air quality concerns, and did some research.
“One of the things that we did find, perhaps similar to what director Elliott is pointing out, is the province does regulate air quality,” said Thoms. “The conversation at that time was that conservation officers and RCMP could enforce, but it’s hard to do. It was questionable whether a bylaw was necessary at that time, and questionable in this case.
“When we did look into it, it seemed possible that the board could establish a service to regulate air quality. We would need to consider service area boundaries and the cost to local taxpayers.”
Thoms said at that time, regional district staff spoke with the conservation officer service here. Its advice was that they did have the laws in place to enforce, but it was very hard for them to do it.
McCormick asked Thoms what he would suggest. She said air quality is significant.
Thoms said he would encourage a conversation with the RCMP to verify whether they can enforce provincial environmental laws.
Elliott made a motion that the committee recommend the regional board write a letter to the RCMP and BC Conservation Officer service regarding enforcing provincial laws and regulations regarding outdoor burning of prohibited materials.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said in 2019, the provincial government passed open burning smoke control regulations, and according to the fact sheet, plastics, polystyrene, railway ties, fibreglass and other materials cannot be burned under the regulations.
“From the provincial government’s own website, violations of the open burning smoke control regulations may result in fines of up to $200,000,” said Gisborne. “The regulations are enforced by the BC Conservation Officer service. Open burning violations can be reported to the RRAP hotline.”
Gisborne said he didn’t believe the regional district needed a bylaw because the provincial government has these regulations, and they are supposed to be enforced by the conservation officer service.
“If there is an issue with not getting that provincial service delivered in the electoral areas, I would be in support of sending an invitation to the conservation officer service to come to our board and explain the situation,” said Gisborne. “I’m not in favour of the local government taking on services the province is responsible for.”
The committee voted unanimously in favour of sending correspondence to the RCMP and BC Conservation Officer service.
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