MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - The Parkland Airshed Management Zone (PAMZ) will be seeking public input on where exactly to conduct an upcoming air quality monitoring project in Mountain View County, say officials.
The monitoring is expected to start in October and run through to March 2025, with the final report released in spring or summer 2025.
A not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder organization, PAMZ conducts air quality monitoring in central Alberta using fixed and portable monitoring stations.
The organization has received $78,000 from the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to conduct an air quality monitoring somewhere in Mountain View County.
To determine exactly where the monitoring should take place, PAMZ will be gathering public input at a July 23 engagement session at the Community Connection Centre in Olds, located at 4911 - 51 Avenue, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m..
The session will be held to help determined where the air quality monitoring could take place in the county, PAMZ executive director Kevin Warren told the Albertan.
“We are eager to meeting with the public to discuss the best location to gather this information,” Warren said.
PAMZ has submitted a bid to either target a specific air quality issue identified in the county 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, he said.
The monitoring will look at a wide range of compounds, he said.
The project itself has to occur within the county’s boundary or within immediately adjacent counties, and “demonstrate benefits to air quality, promote prevention and management and/or have demonstrable benefits to first responders, hospitals, local authorities, air educational establishments,” he said.
The public meeting will include a round table discussion where participants will be asked to identify issues of concern and possible locations where the monitoring could take place, he said.
An ad-hoc committee will then review the input and come up with a site, he said.
The $78,000 being provided for the monitoring project comes from a fine issued by the AER to Whitecap Resources Inc. following a June 20, 2021 hydrogen sulphide leak near Didsbury, he said.
The AER oversees oil and gas development the province.
