DRIC defends truck route’s EA

WINDSOR, Ont. — The Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) is firing back at critics who claim the arms-length government agency didn’t properly complete an Environmental Assessment for a new truck access road at the Windsor-Detroit Gateway.

Windsor City Council, for one, says DRIC — which in Canada is supported mainly by the provincial Liberals — didn’t follow its own mandate to "consider the solution that best protects the health of citizens and the environment." The city says its own GreenLink plan does just that by offering more tunneling and green space on a truck bypass route to the new border.

The City of Windsor isn’t alone, though. Last week, the provincial government’s own air quality expert, Dr. Gerald Diamond, punched holes in the draft EA prepared by DRIC.

However, DRIC says it did its job, especially on air quality and human health. It says it conducted all air quality analysis based on a work plan that was reviewed by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Health Canada, and Environment Canada.

In the end, DRIC’s Windsor-Essex Parkway route was no less environmentally viable than any other proposal, the group found.

"The air quality assessment … study found that all options for the access road would have a similar impact on air quality and that, ‘the existing air quality is greatly influenced by local, regional, and long range (cross border) contaminants generated in upwind urban and industrial areas.’"

DRIC cites a study by the MOE which indicates that "air quality episodes in Windsor are driven by transboundary pollution rather than by local sources."

Moreover, the EA also found that building the Windsor-Essex Parkway will improve overall air quality in comparison to building nothing at all because it will reduce truck idling along the Huron-Church-Talbot Rd.

DRIC has been criticized for not examining airborne particles called PM10, but the agency says the PM2.5 it studied "is the more generally accepted measure throughout Ontario and Canada for estimating health impacts."