Potential Amendments to Air Quality Permit and Regulatory Fees

Engagement Update

Thank you to everyone who submitted their feedback on the potential amendments to Metro Vancouver’s air quality permit and regulatory fees. At its regular October 2021 meeting, the Metro Vancouver Board approved the drafted Bylaw (Bylaw 1330) following review of the compiled feedback and resulting Bylaw amendments.

View the new Bylaw to regulate air quality management fees, Metro Vancouver Regional District Bylaw No. 1330, 2021, here.

The changes to Bylaw 1330 (formerly Bylaw 1083) proposed are designed to:

achieve health and environmental benefits associated with the reduction of harmful emissions and improved air quality,
ensure fees promote continuous improvement, and
recover the costs of monitoring and enforcement while maintaining Metro Vancouver’s commitment to discharger-pay, equity, and fairness principles.

Over the next four years, fees for some air contaminants will increase, especially those responsible for the greatest health impacts. These air contaminants with high health impacts are Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5), Photoreactive Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), and Sulphur Oxides (Sox).

If you represent a permitted or regulated facility in Metro Vancouver and would like to receive an estimate of proposed fees for your facility, please contact Metro Vancouver at AQBylaw@metrovancouver.org to request an estimate.

Existing and Proposed Fees for Common Air Contaminants

Air Contaminant	Existing Fee ($/tonne)	Proposed 2022 Fee($/tonne)	Proposed 2025 Fee ($/tonne)	Driver for Proposed Increase in Fee
Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)	$300	$700	$1,800	Health
Photoreactive Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)	$100	$150	$260	Health
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)	$50	$90	$150	Health
Sulphur Oxides (SOx)	$100	$100	$100	Health

Existing and Proposed Fees for Other Air Contaminants

“Other” Air Contaminant	Existing Fee ($/tonne)	Proposed 2022 Fee($/tonne)	Proposed 2025 Fee ($/tonne)	Driver for Proposed Increase in Fee
Ammonia	$30	$60	$90	Health, visibility
Coarse Particulate Matter	$30	$35	$40	Inflation
Coarse Particulate Matter, containing soy dust	$30	$70	$180	Health
Diesel Particulate Matter	$300 (as PM2.5, combustion)	$2,970	$4,950	Health
Hazardous Air Pollutants	$1,000	$1,500	$2,000	Health
Metals	$30	$900	$1,100	Environmental protection
Methane	$30	$180	$1,120	Climate change
Non-Photoreactive VOC	$30	$35	$40	Inflation
Other Greenhouse Gases	$30	Based on ratio of global warming potential (GWP) to methane GWP, multiplied by methane fee		Climate change
Ozone	$30	$150	$260	Health
Total Reduced Sulphur	$150	$800	As Odorous Air Contaminant	Environmental protection

Proposed Fees for Odorous Air Contaminants

Air Contaminant	*Existing Fee ($/billion odour units)**	Proposed Fee ($/billion odour units)**
		2022	2025
Odorous Air Contaminants – Permitted	$50	$50	$60
Odorous Air Contaminants – Measured	$50	$200	$240

*A billion odour units means that a billion cubic metres (i.e., one cubic kilometre) of clean air is required to dilute the discharge so that it is just detectable to the human nose.
** 50-75% reduction in fees available if impact mitigation can be demonstrated with dispersion modelling.

PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH

Even with higher fees, society bears much greater potential health costs arising from the exposure to discharged air contaminants, relative to proposed increased regulatory fees. Due to this impact, research was conducted to gauge public opinion about how air quality management services should be funded. The findings of this research were that a majority of respondents (80%) believed that businesses emitting pollutants should pay most or all of the costs for regulating those emissions. Furthermore, the vast majority (92%) felt that fees should be scaled in accordance with the amount and degree of harm of the pollutants discharged.

PROJECT TIMELINE

August – October 2020 COMPLETE	Public and stakeholder opinion research on current and best future fees and fee structure
October 2020 COMPLETE	Develop proposed Air Quality Management Fees Bylaw Amendment Discussion Paper
November 2020 COMPLETE	Present draft Air Quality Management Fees Bylaw Amendment Discussion Paper to the Metro Vancouver Board for approval to engage
January – April 2021 COMPLETE	Engagement on Air Quality Management Fees Bylaw Amendment Discussion Paper
Spring – Summer 2021 COMPLETE	Develop proposed amendments to Bylaw No. 1083 based on engagement feedback
Fall 2021 COMPLETE	Present draft Bylaw No. 1083 to the Metro Vancouver Board for approval