Amendments to Air Quality Management Fees Bylaw

MVRD Air Quality Management Fees Regulation Bylaw No. 1440, 2026 repeals and replaces MVRD Air Quality Management Fees Regulation Bylaw No. 1330, 2021 starting April 24, 2026. Updates improve clarity, predictability, and competitiveness of the fees while maintaining alignment with Metro Vancouver’s principles of emissions reduction, discharger-pay (in proportion to the impact of their emissions), and fair cost recovery.

What’s changed

MVRD Bylaw No. 1440, 2026 includes:

• A freeze on all air contaminant fee rates at 2026 rates until the end of 2028
• Introduction of application fee caps:
• $110,000 for new permits and significant amendments
• $50,000 for authorizations for facilities with expiring permits
• These fee caps are considered competitive with nearby jurisdictions​
  
• Clarification and simplification of odorous air contaminant rules, and reduction of some fee rates:
• Alignment of the approach used for calculating fees for odorous air contaminants with Metro Vancouver’s approach used for all air contaminants
• ​Charge fees based on the emission limit, where a permit or approval includes a limit for an odorous air contaminant
  
• Charge fees based on measured emissions when measured at or above analytical method detection limits, if emissions are required to be measured and no emission limit for that odorous air contaminant is listed in a permit
• Re-introduce the emission fee rate for the group of total reduced sulphur emissions
• Shorten the list of odorous air contaminants to focus on four additional ​groups of odorous air contaminants with published measurement methods
• Apply the same emission fee rate for both permitted and measured odorous air contaminants
• Reduce some emission fee rates for odorous air contaminants
• ​ Clarification of fee calculations:
• When a substance fits multiple definitions of an air contaminant, only the highest emission fee rate applies
  
• If a facility pays for combined odorous air contaminants, it will not pay extra for individual odorous air contaminants or total reduced sulphur emissions from the same emission source​
  
• ​Clarification of definitions and alignment with provincial and federal legislation

Next steps

MVRD Bylaw No. 1440, 2026​ is effective April 24, 2026.

Bylaw No. 1330, 2021 was in effect in the period from January 1, 2026 to April 23, 2026.

Metro Vancouver will next review MVRD Bylaw No. 1440, 2026 by late 2028 and then every four years thereafter.​

Engagement​

Engagement sought feedback to shape an effective and practical bylaw and identify reasonable regulatory fees. The engagement program was designed to hear from those likely to have an interest, be impacted, or have a role in implementation. ​

​Related r​esearch​​​

Public opinion research ​

Metro Vancouver has conducted research to gauge public opinion about how air quality management services should be funded. The findings of this research were that a majority of respondents (80%) believed that businesses emitting pollutants should pay most or all of the costs for regulating those emissions. Furthermore, the vast majority (92%) felt that fees should be scaled in accordance with the amount and degree of harm of the pollutants discharged.

• Public Opinion Research (October 2020)

Heath effects study

Metro Vancouver commissioned a health effects study that had a goal to develop a relative health impact scale that indicates how changes in emissions of different air contaminants impact public health in the Canadian portion of the Lower Fraser Valley.

• Health Effects Study (May 2019)

Background

Metro Vancouver p​​rotects air quality through emission regulations and site-specific authorizations (permits and approvals) to control the discharge of air contaminants. Metro Vancouver has charged fees for applications for authorization since 1973 and for authorized air emissions since 1992 to support the costs of delivering the air quality regulatory program and encourage emissions reduction.