AirCare is worth saving
Editor: Re: “It’s Time AirCare Died,” (editorial, The Times, May 29).
Your editorial on AirCare fails to appreciate the importance of the program for protecting our environment and building a sustainable economy.
As a resident of the Fraser Valley, I know that rather than buying the government’s line that we don’t need to worry about emissions any more, we only need to look up on a poor air quality day to realize that there are cars and trucks on the road that are polluting more than is warranted.
Contrary to your assertion that there aren’t enough older vehicles on the road for AirCare to examine, the program catches close to 40,000 vehicles with emission problems each year. Without testing, that number will compound from one year to the next, growing exponentially.
AirCare does a good job of protecting our environment and air shed. According to the province-led 2010 Program Review, AirCare is keeping 50,000 tonnes of CO2 out of our atmosphere, and an independent review from the same year concluded the program would continue to be effective until at least 2020.
Economically, AirCare repairs and preventative maintenance pumps $35 million of revenue per year into our local automotive repair industry.
AirCare should be expanded to include heavy trucks and diesel engines for a safer, cleaner air shed, but one set of emitters shouldn’t be swapped for another.
Heather Lee,
vice-president,
COPE 378
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