MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - About a dozen people attended a recent open house in Olds to discuss plans for an upcoming air quality monitoring project in Mountain View County.
The project will be conducted by the Parkland Airshed Management Zone (PAMZ), with monitoring expected to start in October and run through to March 2025 and 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.
To help determine where the monitoring should take place, PAMZ hosted the open house at the Community Connection Centre.
“The top project identified by those in attendance was baseline monitoring in east Mountain View County, where a lithium processing facility is proposed,” Kevin Warren, PAMZ executive director, said in a release issued following the meeting.
“Baseline monitoring would provide data characterizing the air quality in the region prior to the establishment of the processing facility. The information could be used later to compare the air quality during processing.”
Those in attendance at the Olds meeting included representatives from PAMZ, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, Mountain View County, and area residents.
Warren said other issues brought forward during the meeting including corn processing odours, asphalt operations, oil and gas operations, and petroleum odours.
An ad-hoc committee will now consider the input provided at the Olds meeting as it decides where to conduct the air monitoring project.
“We will take this information to the ad-hoc committee for consideration and will provide an update on the area selected,” he said.
PAMZ has received $78,000 from the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to conduct the air quality monitoring project somewhere in the county.
PAMZ will 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, and will be within the county’s boundary or within immediately adjacent counties.
It will “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.
