Alberta to set up ‘arm’s-length’ agency to monitor oilsands’ environment impact

[leeaspell]

CALGARY — The Alberta government will create a new “arm’s-length” agency to track the long-term environmental effects of industrial development in the oilsands — and eventually across the province — but questions remain over how independent it will be and exactly how it will be funded.

Environment Minister Diana McQueen made the long-awaited announcement in Edmonton on Wednesday after releasing a 128-page report from a working group formed earlier this year to advise the province on how such an organization should operate.

“This will be a system like no other in Canada and, indeed, around the world — and it needs to be,” McQueen said.

“We will continue to demonstrate to Albertans, Canadians and the world that we can and will develop our natural resources in a responsible and sustainable way.”

The announcement comes almost three years after University of Alberta ecologist David Schindler released a study indicating levels of toxic chemicals in the Athabasca watershed are many times higher downstream of oilsands developments. A year later, both the province and Ottawa acknowledged their structures for monitoring oilsands pollution were deficient, and promised “world class” systems.

In the interim, global environmental scrutiny of the oilsands has intensified every time a pipeline or bitumen project has been proposed.

On Wednesday, the minister adopted the working group’s call for an arm’s-length organization — tentatively called the Alberta Environmental Monitoring Agency — that will still report to McQueen. Eventually, an advisory board staffed with scientists will be created to advise the agency.

The Redford government said once the new agency is up and running, it will be focused on science, research and data collection. It will not monitor whether companies comply with environmental laws, but instead examine broader ecological trends. Provincial staff say the agency will be able to post data or information publicly, whenever it’s available.

Wildrose MLA Joe Anglin said if the agency was truly independent, it would report to an all-party legislature committee instead of the minister.

“They don’t seem to understand what independence means,” Anglin said of the government.

But in Edmonton, Schindler said he’s pleased to see action after a series of government panels and reports over the past two years. He said the move is key to restoring public trust in government.

“The agency needs to be independent and it looks like it will be set up that way,” he said.

The renowned freshwater scientist said there are still some concerns. He wants to see at least one First Nations representative added to the agency’s management board, and he believes the budget for the agency should increase in tandem with industrial production.

Another outstanding matter is where the money to operate the agency will come from. The organization’s initial focus will be in the oilsands region, where the industry has already pledged $50 million per year, for the next three years, to support joint provincial-federal environmental monitoring work.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said it wants a government policy “that compels oilsands companies to pay their share” of the $50 million. But the government has not answered how exactly the pledge will be collected.

In the years ahead, as the agency expands from the oilsands to monitor the rest of the province, it’s an open question as to whether operations will be funded by industry levies, a hydrocarbon tax, general government revenues or a combination — all of which are options suggested by the working group. The agency’s yearly budget is still to be determined.

“We would look for what’s a reasonable, equitable approach to that,” said CAPP vice-president David Pryce.

The environmental agency is still months away from actually coming into existence and critics say the whole project has progressed at an agonizingly slow speed.

Greenpeace Canada’s Mike Hudema called Wednesday’s announcement “yet another plan to develop a plan” and said the province should stop approving oilsands projects until monitoring issues are sorted out.

Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman said she fears government will control the agency by keeping its funding tight.

kcryderman@calgaryherald.com

Alberta’s new environmental agency:

A soon-to-be created environmental monitoring agency doesn’t yet have a set budget but will function “arm’s length” from the provincial government. The agency will be built on science, research and data collection, and will co-ordinate monitoring of land, air, water and biodiversity — starting first in the oilsands region. The agency will report to Environment Minister Diana McQueen but will still be able to release data at will. Former University of Lethbridge president Howard Tennant, who has sat on two government panels on environmental and oilsands monitoring, will head a management board that will immediately begin work setting up the new agency.


I don't know much about the oilsands, but i thought they already had some pretty strict environmental monitoring going on. Is this agency really needed or is it just another waste of money advisory panel