Mountain View County residents shed some insight on issues in their community
OLDS – Members of the community shared the air quality monitoring projects they would like to see prioritized during a Parkland Airshed Management Zone (PAMZ) Community Engagement Session held in Olds on the evening of July 23.
The top project identified by those in attendance, which included residents, representatives from the PAMZ board and technical working group, Mountain View County, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, and other local organizations, was baseline monitoring in East Mountain View County, where a lithium processing facility is proposed. Baseline monitoring would provide data characterizing the air quality in the region prior to the establishment of the processing facility. This information could be used to later compare the air quality during processing.
Prior to determining this issue was the community members’ top priority for this project, a round table discussion was held, with other concerns such as corn processing odours, asphalt operations, oil and gas operations, petroleum odours, contrails, and cumulative effects being brought forward.
These issues will also be taken into consideration by the ad-hoc committee responsible for the siting of the air quality monitoring project in September 2024. Monitoring will be completed from October 2024 to March 2025, with a report detailing the findings expected early in the summer of 2025.
ABOUT THE CONTRACT
The funds for the air quality monitoring project were made accessible through a creative sentencing after an area organization was recently ordered to pay an $80,000 penalty after release of hydrogen sulphide from a gas well in 2021. While $2,000 was provided to the Alberta Court of Justice as a fine, the remaining $78,000 was put towards a creative sentencing project, overseen by the Alberta Energy Regulator on behalf of the Alberta Court of Justice.
PAMZ submitted a bid to either target a specific air quality issue identified in the Mountain View County region or collect data to enhance the organization’s knowledge base on the air quality in the area using its Dr. Martha Kostuch portable Air Quality Monitoring Station.
The community engagement session was schedule to gather feedback from residents and stakeholders on issues they would like to see considered for monitoring.
“We are grateful to the members of the community that attended and provided their concerns during our engagement session. We will take this information to the ad-hoc committee for consideration and will provide an update on the area selected,” said Warren.
The Parkland Airshed Management Zone Assoc. (PAMZ) is a multi-stakeholder non-profit organization consisting of industry, government, environmental organizations and the general public. It was formed in 1997 to monitor and manage air quality within the Parkland Region. The area it encompasses includes communities within the central Alberta region, running from Three Hills in the east to the BC border in the west and from just north of Crossfield in the south to just north of Ponoka in the north. See map at www.pamz.org.