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By Shaun Penner

Saskatoon Mountain residents petitioning for air quality monitoring

Mar 11, 2019 | 1:12 PM

A permanent air quality monitoring unit could soon be set up in the Saskatoon Mountain Area, with plenty of oil and gas projects on-going in the area.

A petition has been started by local residents to get a full-time station established in the region, as seven different oil and gas related operations and leases exist within a 50-kilometre radius of the area.

The petition, which has 108 signatures, was sent to the County of Grande Prairie, who will now send a letter of support to the Peace Airshed Zone Association to have a unit built in the vicinity of the mountain.

“There’s a few energy companies proposing some facilities in the area,” said County Chief Administrative Officer Bill Rogan. “They held some public information sessions out there recently. Coming out of that, I think the residents felt that if these facilities do go ahead, there should be some base level air monitoring done.”

PAZA currently has four permanent monitoring stations set up in the area, including one near the Weyerhaeuser facility south of Grande Prairie, as well as one near the reservoir in the City of Grande Prairie. They also have stations in Beaverlodge and Wembley.

Another possible case for the Saskatoon Mountain area would be for a mobile station to be setup there, to determine if a permanent unit would need to be built.

“They have these roving stations where they will say, ‘If something is coming to area near you, we can go out with one of these roving stations. We can leave it there for a period of time and get that baseline air monitoring,” said Rogan. “At the end of the day, if it is significant development and another station is required, they would look at doing that as well.”

PAZA Executive Director Elizabeth Bell says that the association will first use the resources they already have in place by commissioning a Network Assessment. This means they will use the infrastructure already in place to collect the data, then decide on whether to build future units from that.

“This will give us a broader perspective on what the level of activity is in the area,” said Bell. “Where monitoring should be occuring and whether or not we need additional monitoring.” 

In the County’s letter, they will be asking for a permanent unit to be built. At a minimum, the ask will be for a roving station to be set up in the vicinity for the duration of expansion and builds of oil and gas projects in the area.

Bell will be speaking on the issue at the Wapiti Area Synergy Partnership meeting on Tuesday, being held at Helen E. Taylor School in Wembley at 7 p.m.

by Shaun Penner