MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - Parkland Airshed Management Zone (PAMZ) will be monitoring oil and gas emissions in the Eagle Hill and Eagle Valley areas of Mountain View County east of Sundre starting this month, officials said.
An ad hoc PAMZ committee announced the monitoring project location Tuesday following public consultations over the past several months.
The monitoring will use of the Dr. Martha Kostuch portable air quality monitoring station and is expected to run through to next spring, with a final report released in spring or summer 2025.
The monitoring will look at a wide range of compounds, said executive director Kevin Warren.
“PAMZ has chosen this project based on feedback from Mountain View County, who have received complaints from residents in the Eagle Valley-Eagle Hill region concerning air quality,” he said.
“We are hopeful the results will provide valuable insights into the area’s air quality.”
The monitoring project 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.
A not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder organization, PAMZ conducts air quality monitoring in central Alberta using fixed and portable monitoring stations.
To determine exactly where the monitoring will take place, PAMZ gathered public input at a July 23 engagement session at the Community Connection Centre in Olds.
PAMZ received $78,000 from the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to conduct an air quality monitoring somewhere in Mountain View.
The $78,000 comes from a fine issued by the AER to Whitecap Resources Inc. following a June 20, 2021 hydrogen sulphide leak near Didsbury, Warren said.
The AER oversees oil and gas development the province.
