Child centre air quality case a canary in the mine

Child centre air quality case a canary in the mine

Health officials' refusal to let a Manakau child care centre open is the tip of an air quality problem facing built up areas nationwide which threatens to wreck businesses and continue to severely damage health.

The Business Council for Sustainable Development, whose 60 members' annual sales equate to 34% of gross domestic product – says Kidicorp's unopened Jump Jive child care centre at Manakau is a modern day canary in the coalmine.

And it shows major new measures are needed nationwide to help achieve minimum air quality standards and protect health – and allow continued local economic development and economic growth.

The Business council's Chief Executive, Peter Neilson, says the "Kidicorp Canary" signals no business can expect to be exempt from air quality issues when deciding where to locate. It also shows a far more extensive response to killer air quality is needed than one small business can provide.

"The case shows us how wise it will be to implement proposed new emissions standards on imported vehicles, specially for the 91% of used imports coming from Japan," Mr Neilson says. "There is no way we are going to get there – and avoid killing more business canaries and continuing air pollution's high death rate – unless other measures are considered."

Cash incentives should be introduced to encourage people to scrap high-emission diesel cars which don't meet Euro IV emission standards. Cash incentives to buy fuel efficient, low emission vehicles are also needed. A cash grant of up to $3000 for each newly registered low emission vehicle, including used imports, would see nearly 500,000 dirty vehicles leave the fleet in five years.

The incentives and rules to use better technology should go hand in hand with ones to clean up vehicle imports, have people properly tune and maintain vehicles, stop driving with a heavy foot, and bring in clean fuels.

"There's no way any one business can roll back peak hour air pollution at one point on the Southern Motorway at Manakau. This is a national effort – and it includes everyone driving past canary sites in every town in the country."

Local authorities are required to have their areas comply with a National Environmental Standard on air quality by 2013.

In Auckland alone – where there have been three measured air quality breaches this year, the latest in June in Henderson was the worst ever. Fine particulate emissions measures at 125 micrograms per cubic metre of air over 24 hours were more than double the 56 micrograms regarded as acceptable by World Health Organisation standards.

Mr Neilson says Auckland Regional Council reports point the finger firmly at dirty diesel cars as the main air polluter.

Diesel engines produce high levels of cancer causing particulate and sulphur dioxide, especially if not properly tuned. A typical diesel car produces more than 20 times as much particulate as a typical petrol one.

The ARC tells us petrol and diesel sales have gone up by about 70% during the past 13 years. This means car emissions have also risen by about 70%, and 91% of human health effects in the Auckland Region come from diesel vehicles.

ARC calculations show that annual particulate emissions in the Auckland airshed, covering most of the built-up area, will have to reduce by 53% (compared to 2005 levels) to meet the standard by 2013.

ENDS

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