Producers can finally see a report about oil and gas industry threats to farming that the Alberta government tried to keep secret.
Last week the province’s information and privacy commissioner ordered the Alberta environment department to release the report, commissioned by the Alberta Cattle Commission and completed by the Alberta Environment Centre and a private research company.
Both the research company and a cattle industry veterinarian are cheering the release of the information.
“I hope we’re going to finally start dealing with this issue,” said Martha Kostuch, of Rocky Mountain House. “It’s been covered up long enough.”
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Udo Weyer, whose research firm WDA consulting of Calgary did half of the original report’s research, said he is glad it is finally available.
“We always wanted it to go to the farmer. It was written for farmers,” Weyer said.
The original 842-page report was delivered in April 1995, but has never been released until now. Weyer said the original report is much better than a smaller version that was released in July 1996.
The report is a compilation of scientific research about oilfield activity and animal health from around the world.
Alberta Environmental Protection spokesperson Lee Funke insists the first report is flawed and the second report is better and more useful for farmers.
And he said the cattle commission wanted the original report, which he called a “previous draft,” changed in a number of ways before it was released.
He said the edited version is better because it has a stronger Alberta focus, uses less technical language, has additional information on groundwater and contains a series of recommendations.
But Kostuch suspects the government didn’t want to have to deal with a report that shows oil and gas activity can seriously affect cattle.
“I believe this report does validate the concerns that farmers have been expressing,” she said. “It raises serious issues about the impact of the petroleum industry.”
She said the original report, which she has a leaked copy of, shows oilfield activity can cause mild effects in cattle such as watery eyes and coughing or severe effects such as increasing pneumonia and disease causing abortions and infertility.
Weyer, who fought to have the report released, said it may force the government and the oil industry to face up to the harmful effects for cattle producers.
“High level decision makers in the oil industry and maybe in the government still seem to be in the denial phase,” he said.
David Mayhood of Freshwater Research Inc., the Calgary man who asked for the document, said he is happy it is now available.
“I’m really delighted to see the information commissioner uphold our request and force this document public,” he said. “This (has been) another example of suppressed literature in Alberta.”
Weyer said he thought most people could understand the original document, but Kostuch and Mayhood said they expected it is too technical for most producers to understand.
Still, Mayhood said, even if only a few hundred scientists and researchers can understand the study, producers will be helped.
“It’s crucial to have this available,” he said.
