After a letter from a concerned resident raised the issue, the Town of Carrot River will be testing its air quality.
In a letter to council, Clarence Hendrickson asked if the air quality could be assessed. This was discussed at a regular meeting Dec. 21.
Kevin Trew, the town’s administrator, told council that the Ministry of Environment provides the service free to those who request it, with the town simply providing the power for the equipment.
The Ministry will set up two air quality testers in town for a week, after which it will notify the Town of its results.
“A lot of people have noticed that if you get up in the morning and you look at your vehicle, you have a bunch of shaft on your vehicle. It’s coming from somewhere,” said Bob Gagné, Carrot River’s mayor. “There is something in the air. We don’t know what it is.”
“If there are organizations or businesses that are contributing to poor air quality, and they don’t have a permit to do it, that could be an issue,” Trew told council. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to protect residents, and if residents don’t need protecting, then that’s good too.”
While some businesses in town could be contributing to air quality, Trew expects they all have the proper permits to do so.
“I’m sure that all these businesses are good stewards in this community and they’ve got employees, they all live in this community. They all want to be good stewards in the air as well,” he said.
