When the southeast Saskatchewan oil, gas, coal and power production companies do their work, knowing that their efforts on the environmental files are being closely monitored by an independent body, they can go about their jobs with increased confidence and professionalism.
That was one prong of the business case made by the Southeast Saskatchewan Airshed Association (SESAA) and the more recently defined Western Yellowhead Air Management Zone to the Western Economic Diversification (WED) board that provided these two monitoring bodies $400,000 to improve their capabilities in two important economic regions of the province.
The money coming from WED will be matched by industry members belonging to SESAA and the new Yellowhead group, to enable the purchase of eight more air pointers (mobile air quality monitoring units). They will be added to the two already deployed in the southeast and one that is working in the Yellowhead zone.
The value of each of these monitors is around $100,000.
Terry Gibson, executive director for the SESAA, said the six air pointers that will be used throughout the southeast region will provide pretty comprehensive coverage for the 38,600 square kilometres that are embraced by SESSA.
With the coal, oil, power plants, etc. emitting a certain level of pollutants, the SESSA will be able to monitor the results, closely recording the release of nitrogen oxides, hydrogen sulphides and sulphur dioxides as well as other fine particulates.
Speaking with The Mercury about the funding that came with a brief presentation ceremony in Regina that involved Palliser MP Ray Boughen and Gibson, the SESSA executive director said the money "was never expected, but when Western Economic Diversification first came to us some time ago to see if there were some positive things we could do with possible funding, we gave them the business case that if we did the monitoring, then the individual companies wouldn't have to. Their research and development arms would have information from us that they could use for future plans and investments in the area."
Protecting the environment while moving industry forward struck a chord at the federal level and the funds arrived last week.
All eight air pointers should be purchased and readied for use within a year or two, Gibson said. He added they will all be used in the southeast and northwest regions since that is where the heavy resource sector is already at work and willing to fund and support the monitoring systems. The rest of the province can be covered and monitored later when other regions decide to come aboard. Gibson told the Regina Leader Post's Bruce Johnstone he felt there could be up to six more air monitoring zones established across the province.
As it stands now, the six air pointers in the southeast and five in the northwest will give the monitoring bodies continuous readouts on an hourly basis. The first four air pointers should be operational by this summer. The data will be available to the public at www.sesaa.ca
Gibson added that the Air Quality Management System established last fall by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment has dictated that air zones must be defined by the end of 2013.
This means that with the non-profit SESSA already established, supported and monitoring air quality, this region of the province is well ahead of the schedule and providing valuable information for environmentalists and business concerns.
Gibson said the southeast board of directors is "doing the work and well aware of the social licence they hold to protect interests in the region. If a company wants to invest around the southeast and work the resource sector they want to know it's being monitored and the environment is being protected.
"They are protecting their interests by supporting it," he said.
The current board in the southeast has just recently added a few new members, so that part of the program "is pretty solid right now," said Gibson, who is scheduled to be in Estevan to speak to members and delegates attending a safety symposium at the Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute today (March 20).
