Key Air Management Initiatives – National to Regional

CASA Coordination Workshop

29 May 2012

Lisa Sadownik, Director – Strategic Relationships and Engagement

Environment and Sustainable Resource Development

Key Air Management Initiatives

1. National Air Quality Management System (AQMS)

3. Alberta’s Clean Air Strategy

5. The Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting System

7. Joint Canada Alberta Oil Sands Monitoring Plan

9. Regional Air Quality Management Frameworks

1. National AQMS

• Outcomes-based national system to protect and improve air quality in Canada and keep clean areas clean

• Federal/provincial/territorial collaboration – best placed jurisdiction to take action

• Addresses both human and environmental health

• Comprehensive: covers all sources of outdoor pollutants, including non-point sources, transboundary

• Aligns well with Alberta CEMS, place based approach

2. Alberta’s Clean Air Strategy

• Enhancements to the existing Alberta AQMS

• GoA (cross ministry) strategic direction for next 10 years

• Based on recommendations from CASA project team, focus groups, public open houses and cross ministry working group

• Incorporates the following:

– national AQMS– regional planning initiatives (e.g.

management frameworks)– monitoring, evaluation and reporting

initiatives– collaborative initiatives– cumulative effects management

(CEMS)– knowledge enhancement– continuous improvement

3. The Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting System

• Alberta Environment established a monitoring panel in January, 2011 to address the need for a system– Made up of experts from across Canada, including academia and

research community

• Panel met with First Nations, stakeholders and users of environmental data and information

• Report released publicly on July 5, 2011

Panel’s Key Messages

• Environmental MER is a key pillar in provincial natural resource management

• Broader and more comprehensive system needed to support cumulative environmental effects management

• Increased transparency and accessibility of data and information to the public

• Increased scientific rigor and oversight• Dedicated revenue stream• Best delivered by an agency at arms-length from government

Minister and Cabinet will provide a comprehensive response to the report; in the meantime…

• A Working Group is in place, and • A CEO of Environmental Monitoring has been named

4. Joint Canada / Alberta Oil Sands Monitoring Plan

• February 3, 2012 announcement– Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring

• Objectives– Support sound decision making

– Ensure transparency through accessible, comparable, and quality assured data

– Improve knowledge of state of the environment and understanding of cumulative effects using science based monitoring

– Enhance understanding of historical baselines and changes

– Understand transboundary issues with Saskatchewan and Northwest Territories

Foundation of Agreement

• The Agreement covers: – Air quality, emissions, transport and deposition of contaminants– Surface and shallow groundwater quality, acid-sensitive lakes, downstream rivers

and aquatic biodiversity– Biodiversity: Impacts of habitat disruption, contaminants on wildlife

• Quality assurance, data management and data accessibility will mean sound information is made freely available to all

• Adaptive Management

– Plans and activities will evolve based on consultations with industry and other stakeholders, initial implementation experience, results over time and increased understanding

– Activities can be increased if important changes are detected, OR, reduced where no significant changes are occurring and no new activity is planned

Air Quality Component

• Focus areas are source emissions, ambient air quality and deposition of pollutants

• Will include:

– Enhanced efforts to monitor emissions from stacks, fugitive, mobile and area sources

– Use of satellite images, remote sensing and air quality models to integrate the data

– Short-term studies will provide data to guide the implementation of long-term fixed sites and help to address knowledge gaps

Air Quality Component (cont.)

• Major improvements– More monitoring sites – increase from 21 to up to 32 in 2015 over a

broader area

– More pollutants – heavy metals, PAHs and VOCs related to oil sands activities

– Increased sensitivity – lower limits of detection

• Result– Allow distinction between natural, point and non-point sources

– Allow better understanding of the long-range effects of air emissions downwind, such as on acid sensitive lakes and terrestrial vegetation

– Provide better linkages to the water quality and aquatic biota components through integration of data

5. Regional Air Quality Management Frameworks

• Existing Provincial scale management frameworks– Particulate Matter and Ozone Management Framework

• New regional scale and management frameworks– management frameworks, as part of regional planning, are a key

approach for cumulative effects management at a regional scale– draft Lower Athabasca Regional Plan

– Industrial Heartland (sub-regional)

• Complementary to other policies, legislation , etc.– one part of the environmental management system

Provides context for decisions about management of existing and future activities

Indicators, Triggers

and Limits

Monitoring and

Modelling

Management Response and

Reporting

• Indicators are chosen• Triggers & limits are set

• Ongoing monitoring and assessment of conditions relative to triggers & limits

• Management actions taken as needed at triggers & limits• Results reported

Management Frameworks – Purpose and Content

LARP Air QualityManagementFramework

• Objective: Releases from various sources are managed so they do not collectively result in unacceptable air quality.

• Ambient air quality.

• Indicators – NO2 and SO2.

• Limits and triggers based on provincial Ambient Air Quality Objectives.

• Limits and triggers apply across region and will be measured at individual stations.

Conclusion

• Much is happening in the ‘air world’!

• Alberta is making significant progress on numerous air initiatives – are they tied together?

• The next speaker will describe how they are related