Item - 2009.HL24.4

The Board of Health:

1.         requested Metrolinx to do the following as part of its assessment of the proposed Georgetown South Service Expansion and Union-Pearson Rail Link:

a.         make the following additions to the consultants’ risk assessment studies:

i.          estimate particulate deposition to soil, and evaluate skin contact and ingestion exposures to these particulates;

ii.          evaluate diesel exhaust both as a whole and as a mixture of individual components;

iii.         undertake an ultrafine particulate matter (PM0.1) monitoring program to characterize baseline concentrations and concentration gradients in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Office of Toronto Public Health and provide the assessment to the Medical Officer of Health that allows the public sufficient time to comment before Metrolinx finalizes its Environmental Project Report;

b.         conduct a health impact assessment (HIA) study, in consultation with the Medical Officer of Health, to examine the distribution in the community of risks and benefits from the proposed Georgetown South Service Expansion and Union-Pearson Rail Link;

c.         estimate the contribution of each train line operating on the Georgetown South Corridor to total, annual diesel exhaust emissions, and thereby predict the emissions reductions achievable through electrification of GO Georgetown services and the Union-Pearson Rail Link; and

d.         make the above information available in a way that allows the public sufficient time to review and comment before Metrolinx finalizes its Environmental Project Report;

2.         requested the Medical Officer of Health to review the risk assessment reports, air quality impact mitigation strategy and health impact assessment when they are released by Metrolinx, and provide input to Metrolinx and the public through the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry;

3.         requested Metrolinx to:

a.         electrify the Georgetown South Service Expansion and the Union-Pearson Rail Link prior to implementing expanded service;

b.         apply the following good practices for the protection of public health to the Georgetown South Service Expansion and the Union-Pearson Rail Link until such time as electrification is in place:

i.          select hybrid locomotives with on-board rechargeable energy storage systems and regenerative braking;

ii.          select new locomotives and remanufacture systems of the best available technology, which may be more advanced than that required by the current US EPA emissions standards for line-haul locomotives;

iii.         use ultra low-sulphur diesel (ULSD, 15 ppm);

iv.         ensure that idle control systems are in place, and develop and implement idling reduction policies;

v.         regularly assess and maintain tracks and locomotives to maintain emissions performance at or above the relevant emissions standards; and

vi.         develop a detailed mitigation strategy to manage the residual human health risks;

c.         collaborate with Toronto Public Health, City Planning, and Transportation Services to ensure that the stations on the Georgetown South Corridor are developed into connected “mobility hubs” where residents can live, shop, eat, work, play, and connect to active transportation and public transit;

d.         to apply the good practices for the protection of public health requested above to all non-electrified GO transit rail services that pass through residential neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto;

4.         recommended to Metrolinx that the Georgetown South Service Expansion and the Union-Pearson Rail Link not proceed until recommendations from the Board of Health have been addressed;

5.         requested Metrolinx to immediately release its consultants’ report on electrification of the Georgetown South Service Expansion and that upon the release of the consultants’ report, the Medical Officer of Health review it and provide input to Metrolinx and the public through the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry and the Environmental Project Review (EPR);

6.         forwarded this report to Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway and Via Rail Canada, and requested that they apply the good practices for the protection of public health requested above to their services that pass through residential neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto;

7.         forwarded this report to:

a.         the Clean Train Coalition, Environmental Health Association of Ontario, Mount Dennis Community Association and Weston Community Coalition;

b.         the Toronto District Catholic School Board and Toronto District School Board;

c.         the Medical Officers of Health for Halton and Peel Regions;

d.         the Ontario Minister of the Environment;

e.         the Federal Ministers of the Environment and Transportation;

f.          all local Members of Parliament and Members of Provincial Parliament; and

g.         the Premier of Ontario;

8.         forwarded a copy of this report to the Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario for review and with the request that she advise the Minister of the Environment on all adverse health impacts of the current Metrolinx proposal; and

9.         forwarded this report and the Board of Health’s decision to the Parks and Environment Committee for its June 16, 2009, meeting.

There are no financial impacts of these recommendations.