Bermuda Electric Light Company Limited (BELCO) today welcomed Government’s Throne Speech commitment to make amendments to the Clean Air Act to update air quality standards and make new provisions for odour control.
BELCO currently operates air quality monitoring stations in several locations around the Serpentine Road plant. While one of the monitoring stations located on private property on Ocean Lane was removed in June, BELCO is working with the Environmental Authority (EA) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources to identify a suitable alternative location for the unit to monitor down drafting in that area.
As outlined by Home Affairs Minister Walter Roban in remarks on Monday, November 14th, with the studies that have been done, most of the issues around clean air, in particular, the contaminants that are the most pervasive, are not from BELCO or Tynes Bay, but actually emmenate from Bermuda’s cars. BELCO welcomes island-wide air quality monitoring to further improve the island’s data collection of air contaminants. This increased monitoring will assist Bermuda in making informed decisions and driving actions to reduce the impacts of air pollution for all residents on the island. In particular the capturing of vehicular pollution will help to drive immediate actions as described by the Minister, such as the electrification of vehicles which will help to significantly improve air quality for all of Bermuda’s residents.
BELCO President Wayne Caines said: “BELCO is committed to providing safe, reliable energy to the people and businesses of Bermuda. Of course, we do have challenges operating a fossil-fuel plant so close to residential and business properties, but our dedicated team works tirelessly to do everything they can do to minimise impacts on the community and improve our operations. However, we must work together as a community to combat air pollution from all sources such as vehicles and other sources of airborne emissions that are the largest contributor to climate change. Together we can work to build a cleaner, greener future for Bermuda.”
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