They're anxious to get the word out.
The Southest Saskatchewan Airshed Association (SESAA) is probably not the first thing you think about when contemplating quality of life in southeast Saskatchewan, but maybe it should be.
Terry Gibson, executive director of SESAA for the past three years, chaired a Clean Air Day workshop in Estevan on June 6 that attracted between 30 and 40 delegates to the Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute.
The theme of this year's event was Clearing the Air Together.
"What is everyone doing? That's what we were getting at today. What is the Environment Ministry doing, what are we doing as an association? What are the industries doing to keep air quality good in southeast Saskatchewan?" said Gibson.
"The next question then, is everyone doing their part?
The SESAA measures sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone plus hydrogen sulfide and particulate matter with the measurements posted on their website www.sesaa.ca.
Continuous air monitors provide information on air quality around the region with air monitoring systems established in Weyburn and Glen Ewen. The association also uses SaskPower's data plus data from 28 other passive measurement monitors that measure just NO2, SO2 and ozone.
"We're hearing from Dr. John Gordon today too. He's doing a study on respiratory issues in this area, plus we're hearing from Dean Pylypuk, area supervisor for Energy and Resources, about what their ministry does for regulating the oil and gas industry."
Gibson said that while he was disappointed that only about half of the expected delegates appeared for the workshop, they would still be able to get a lot done and a lot of questions answered.
"We require more board members, especially from the general public. We have good representation from the member agencies, but to enable us to raise the public awareness of what we do, we'll need to get more of the general public involved. We use the media to spread the word too."
Airshed data was affected by last year's floods, not just watershed data, Gibson added.
He noted that SO2 levels went down amidst the flood periods "and we don't know why, but that's one reason why we monitor."
Gibson said the clean coal project at Boundary Dam's Unit No. 3, that will come on stream in about 18 months, will have an impact on the region as well and to that end, Doug Daverne, project manager for the BD3 project, provided an update to the delegates.
Chuck Bosgoed, from the Environment Ministry reported on government direction on air emissions regulations and airshed development in Saskatchewan.
Industry initiatives were outlined by Brad Johnston while Darlene Sakaires brought forth information from the oil production side of the partnership.
The workshop items were followed by the SESAA's annual general meeting in the latter part of the afternoon.
