Canada's new integrated oilsands monitoring program is a great start, says a local scientist, but it needs to be freed from government interference if it's going to work.
Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent and Alberta Environment and Water Minister Diana McQueen held a press conference at the University of Alberta Friday to announce a new Canada-Alberta oilsands monitoring program. The program, which will be run by both governments, is meant to track the effects of the oilsands industry on the air, land and water in and outside of Alberta.
"For the world to assess whether oil-producing nations are developing their resources responsibly, we must monitor that development and share that data publicly," Kent said.
This program will be one of the most comprehensive and transparent of its kind, he said, and would help Canada counter some of the more outrageous claims being made about the oilsands industry.
This new program follows through on many of the recommendations of last year's Alberta Environmental Monitoring Panel and should lead to more comprehensive, integrated environmental monitoring, noted panel member Warren Kindzierski, a St. Albert-based air quality specialist.
"Changes occur in the environment very slowly," he cautioned, and it will take time before we can get a true picture of how the oilsands industry is affecting the land.
More checks, more often
Kent pitched this new system as world-class, comprehensive and transparent.
"We will be monitoring in more places, more frequently, and for more substances," he said.
The program will more than double the amount of permanent air, water, wildlife contamination and biodiversity monitoring sites in and around the oilsands region, said an Environment Canada official in a technical briefing. This will raise the total to about 170 from 80.
Researchers will also take samples more often (once a month for water, for example, compared to once a year now) and test them for more pollutants (such as heavy metals).
This new program will feature common testing and reporting standards to keep this research consistent, the official said. It will also look at how pollutants cycle through air, land, water and animals — a key research gap flagged by last year's federal and provincial review panels. All research will be publicly available online, and all research programs will undergo an external scientific review every five years.
The plan is to roll out these improvements over the next three years, starting this spring, McQueen said. Some of the enhancements are already in effect.
Unanswered questions
Kindzierski said he was concerned that the government was directly managing the program. He and his fellow panellists had recommended that it be overseen by an independent commission so that the same body watching the oilsands industry was not also approving its development.
That commission is still under development, said McQueen, and will be rolled out as soon as possible.
"Such a body [is one] I personally believe strongly in and am working towards," she said.
The province wanted to move on the other parts of the program now so they would be in place for the spring monitoring season.
It's also unclear how much industry will pay for this increased monitoring.
Kent said the program would cost an extra $50 million a year for the next three years.
"We expect, and have been assured that industry will provide the increased funding required to implement this new program," he said, although he had yet to sign any formal agreements.
Industry officials already spend about $20 million a year on oilsands monitoring, he added, compared to about $6 million apiece for the federal and provincial governments.
The oil industry hasn't seen the government's funding proposal, said Greg Stringham, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, but supported effective, scientific monitoring in the oilsands.
Copies of the new monitoring plan are available at www.ec.gc.ca.
