From Emerald Awards
The Clean Air Strategic Alliance (CASA) is a multi-stakeholder partnership including representation from SAGE. CASA uses a collaborative consensus-based process, and every partner is committed to a comprehensive air quality management system for Alberta.
Air pollution from Alberta’s transportation sector is a growing concern, impacting both the environment and public health. In 2018, CASA launched the Roadside Optical Vehicle Emissions Reporter (ROVER) III Project to tackle this issue by gathering critical data on vehicle emissions across the province. This innovative study used remote sensing technology to measure emissions from nearly 50,000 light-duty gasoline vehicles and over 6,000 heavy-duty diesel vehicles, providing much-needed insights into Alberta’s air quality challenges.
The study showed that 30% of the heavy-duty vehicles measured emitted at least 10 times the expected amount of nitrogen oxides, and many exceeded emissions benchmarks for several other pollutants. ROVER III did not include vehicle inspections, so the causes are unknown, but this level of excess emissions means these vehicles likely have emission control systems that have been tampered with or that are malfunctioning.
Tampering with vehicle emission control systems involves removing, bypassing, defeating, or otherwise rendering the emission control systems inoperative. Alongside Manitoba, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, Alberta does not prohibit tampering or require checking emission control equipment as part of commercial vehicle safety inspections.
Exposure to diesel exhaust is associated with several types of cancers, along with respiratory and cardiovascular problems. A 2022 International Council on Clean Transportation study estimated that a tampering incidence of just one percent among heavy-duty diesel vehicles in Canada will result in 690 excess premature deaths and 11,700 disability-adjusted life years (years lost due to ill health, disability, or early death) over the next 20 years in the country.