Ontario is committed to doing its part to reduce emissions and improve air quality. The Air Quality Ontario initiative is one component of a comprehensive strategy to protect the environment and safeguard public health. Other components of the strategy include:
- Drive Clean – a program that reduces nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through emissions testing of motor vehicles and enforcement through the Smog Patrol;
- Ontario Regulation 194/05 – Industry Emissions: Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) and Sulphur Dioxides (SO2) – this regulation establishes industry sector emission caps starting in 2006 and defines how these caps will be reduced in future years (2007, 2010 and 2015);
- Ontario Regulation 419/05: Air Pollution – Local Air Quality – sets air quality standards for toxic substances to protect local communities;
- Ontario Regulation 397/01: Emissions Trading – caps nitrogen oxides (NOX) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from the electricity sector;
- Ontario Regulation 127/01: Airborne Contaminant Discharge – Monitoring and Reporting – focuses public attention on environmental practices, thus compelling high emitters to clean up their act, and OnAir: Ontario’s online registry for reporting to the public;
- Developing cleaner sources of energy to replace coal-fired generation by early 2009, a mandate to create renewable energy, encouraging energy efficiency and conservation programs, including use of co-generation;
- Stage 1 Vapour Recovery (Ontario Regulation 455/94) requires gasoline facility operators to install, maintain and operate gasoline vapour recovery systems, and Gasoline Volatility (Ontario Regulation 271/91 as amended by Ontario Regulation 45/97) which limits gasoline vapour pressure during the summer;
- Environmental Training for Dry Cleaners (Ontario Regulation 323/94);
- Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Guideline A-5 for New and Modified Combustion Turbines; and,
- CCME Guideline A-9 for New Commercial/Industrial Boilers and Heaters.