Northeastern Alberta air quality study finds
safe levels of pollutants, but admits the oilsands industry
is too young to show real trends
by Leisa Vescarelli
People living in communities near oilsands development can breathe easy—that’s the perhaps oversimplified assertion made recently in announcing the results of a study conducted by the
University of Alberta. The Wood Buffalo Environmental Association
Ambient Air Quality Data Summary and Trend Analysis, released in April,
examined how, and if, air quality is being affected in the three communities closest to oilsands activity in the Athabasca region: Fort
McMurray, Fort McKay, and Fort Chipewyan. The results indicate that
despite ongoing development, there is little or no pattern to the changes in concentrations of various air pollutants across the region during
the past 10 years. Lead researcher Warren Kindzierski says people
living in these three communities should feel confident that the air
they are breathing is safe—but you can be sure some critics are still
holding their breath.
The impacts of ongoing oilsands development on the environment
and public health is clearly a contentious issue, marked by conflicting
opinions and information, and fuelled by a growing global media
obsession rife with hype and rhetoric. In the midst of this maelstrom,
government, industry, and other stakeholder organizations are
juggling to reconcile their respective interests with an environmental
agenda. One such multi-stakeholder group, the Wood Buffalo
Environmental Association (WBEA), commissioned this air quality
study in the spring of 2008 to assist stakeholders and interested
parties in understanding regional air quality. The WBEA is a not-for-profit, independent association that monitors air quality and
terrestrial environmental effects from air pollutants in the Regional
Municipality of Wood Buffalo. To that end, it operates a network of
15 continuous ground-level air-monitoring stations in northeastern
