|
 Environment
Hamilton has designed stack keys to help Hamiltonians
to call in concerns regarding visible air emissions
from stacks in Hamilton's industrial core.
The
general rule of thumb when stack watching is that if
you can see visible emissions coming from a stack (not
steam but discoloured discharges of a black, brown,
green, or orangy-red colour) then it is very likely
that the stack emission that you are viewing is in violation
of provincial air quality regulations.
Why stack watching is so important – a personal story.
View Hamilton Stacks blog for current information, including photos. According to this website, "Hamilton needs a strong economy. We also need to be able to breathe air without filling our lungs with toxins. The purpose of this blog is not to promote anti-industry sentiment, but simply to encourage industries to be good neighbours."
EH now has on staff a Certified Visible Emission Opacity Reader!
She has provided us with information on the different kinds of plumes and an explanation of when they are created, why, and why it's important (depending on the plume, some are more dangerous since they bring contaminants to ground level).
|
What does the law say about visible emissions? |
|
See what kind of emissions come out of the different plant processes. |
Environment Hamilton keeps hardcopies of relevant legislation in the office. Please stop by and visit, we're at 1130 Barton Street East, Suite 207.
We have computer terminals with internet access available for public use.
Where to go for more information:
| |
|
 |
On July 29th, 2004, Environment Hamilton organized its first Stack Watch Marathon. Its theme was "A Day in the Life of an Industrial Skyline". Citizens of Hamilton were invited to join the Stackwatch Project for a day of stack-watching and learning about visible emissions and identifying violations of provincial regulations. All observations were logged and the worst violations were photographed. These records were used to put together the following chronology, which was submitted to the Ministry of the Environment and Hamilton's steel industries.
Stackwatch Marathon: A Day in the Life of an Industrial Skyline
(pdf file, 1.79MB) |
|
Thanks
to a grant from the North American Fund for Environmental
Cooperation (NAFEC), EH will be expanding the
Stack Watch program. See
details.
|
Environment Hamilton is a not-for-profit organization with a mandate to facilitate community environmental capacity building. Please feel free to call us at 905-549-0900 if you need help with using the keys or if you would like copies of the keys for others to use.
stackwatch@environmenthamilton.org
|
