Environment minister Dianna McQueen has asked a panel of experts to recommend how a new oilsands monitoring system will be run and funded.
McQueen announced a six-member working group Tuesday morning that will help decide just how what the government calls a "world class" environmental monitoring system will be run.
"I am excited about the progress that we have had to date and want to make sure that we keep our momentum going," she said.
In February the federal and provincial governments announced the monitoring system, which aims to enhance monitoring of the air, land, water and animals in the oilsands region.
When fully implemented, it is set to nearly double the environmental monitoring stations and create a consistent standard for tracking.
The system was a response stemming from federal and provincial government reviews that recommended more robust systems for measuring the environment in the oilsands.
McQueen said many of those changes are already underway and have been since the government announced the changes last month.
"We announced the plan earlier to enable us to make immediate progress on the ground improvements."
The working group will have Dr. Howard Tennant, a former president of the University of Lethbridge as chair, Hal Kvisle a former president of TransCanada who also worked with several other energy firms, lawyer Neil McCrank and Ernie Hui, the deputy minister of environment and water.
Dr. Gregory Taylor, dean of the University of Alberta's faculty of science, and ecologist Dr. Ron Wallace will also sit on the committee.
Tennant said one of the challenges he sees for the group is to come up with a structure for the environmental monitoring system that will be flexible and adaptable over time.
"Science is continuously asking new questions and we have to have a mechanism to be able to deal with this."
Governance
The new system was the response to review committees from both the Alberta and Canadian governments that found problems with the way environmental impacts are measured in the area.
St. Albert resident and University of Alberta professor Warren Kindzierski, who sat on Alberta's review committee, said he is impressed with the members of the working group.
"There are some good people there who have good foresight into how the processes should work."
When his committee reported last July, it recommended an arm's length agency run the environmental monitoring system. He said government run agencies tend to be concerned both about policy and science, but an independent group would be able to keep its focus on the science.
McQueen said she believes the system has to be run independently, but said actually achieving that can be complicated.
"Alberta has always stood by this recommendation, however putting it into practice raises some complex questions," she said. "By seeking advice from some of Alberta's best and brightest we will find workable and achievable options that are designed to succeed."
Tennant agrees that the independence of the monitoring system will be difficult, but they hope to come up with something to solve the issues.
"In many way this is like stapling Jell-O to a wall," he said. "We hope to propose an institution that is flexible and dynamic."
Liberal environment critic Laurie Blakeman was glad to see the monitoring system taking steps forward, but she said she would have liked to see more scientists as part of the group.
"They are really going to have to punch above their weight if they want to make strong recommendations about environmental monitoring."
She also said it is disappointing the government isn't addressing what sanctions the industry could face once the environmental monitoring system is in place.
"There is no mention of enforcement in any of this," she said. "I think that is a missing ingredient that we need here."
