Not enough reporting, analysis of oilsands environmental data, scientists say

CALGARY C The Alberta and federal governments have collected vast amount of data on air and water quality in the oilsands, but have regularly failed to analyze, interpret and report on that data.

A study released Monday criticized the Joint Oil Sands Monitoring initiative, a team effort by environmental agencies in Ottawa and Edmonton, since the partnership has yet to publish annual reports around the data it’s collected.

“The question is when will we start seeing much more effort to transform that data into information?” the lead author of the report and Clarkson University professor Philip Hopke said.

Alberta and Ottawa teamed up to determine JOSM in 2012 in order to collect more data on the air, water, wildlife and biodiversity around Fort McMurray, the main hub for oilsands extraction within the province.

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Hopke’s study evaluated whether some pot effort has improved the scientific integrity of environmental monitoring within the oilsands in contrast to the separate provincial and federal monitoring in place before 2012. “I’d probably provide them with a good ‘B,'” he told reporters in Edmonton.

“There’s a lot (of information) out there and when you actually knew that which you used to do, you could pull a lot of useful information out, but for most ordinary people that could be extremely difficult to complete at this time,” Hopke said.

Hopke, along with a team of researchers from Canada, the U.S. and the European Union, provided numerous recommendations to JOSM regarding how to improve.

He urged JOSM to publish reports on the data, to make the data easier searchable for both academics and the general public and also to develop a plan that outlines precisely what data is most significant for that government to trace.

“It’s very hard to know if you have hit the prospective, if you do not know what the prospective is,” he explained.

Financial Post

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