An arm’s length monitoring commission has been recommended to the Alberta government as a way to protect the environment and provide better information to decision makers.
Joe Rasmussen, a University of Lethbridge professor and Canada research chair in aquatic ecosystems, was a member of the panel that recently gave 20 recommendations to the provincial government.
He said agriculture, particularly water supply, use and quality, would be included in the monitoring if the government accepts the panel’s recommendations.
“Water quantity and quality, those are probably the most important decisions affecting the south.”
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Rasmussen said the panel was formed in January, in part as a response to criticisms of Alberta’s environmental record related to oilsands development.
“All this sort of crystallized over oilsands, although once the process was started, to review the whole oilsands process, it was clearly beneficial to think about engaging this process at the level of the entire province.”
Among the recommendations are that the province develop a new monitoring and reporting system, employ scientific oversight to design environmental policies and establish a science-driven commission responsible for monitoring environmental conditions and providing reliable information to government.
Rasmussen said Alberta’s new land-use framework initiative requires better assessments of the state of the environment and how policy changes are likely to affect it.
However, he said studies should be done without government influence, whether real or perceived.
“We proposed a system that would function at arm’s length from government and from industry, from any major stakeholder, to try to have a system that’s unfettered.”
Rasmussen said he doesn’t know if the province will adopt the recommendations. The Progressive Conservatives are electing a new leader, which could result in the appointment of a new environment minister.
As well, “science can put you into conflict with a lot of people,” he said.
“Not everybody in Alberta believes in fossils. There are people in caucus who do not believe that this land was covered by a mile of ice 10,000 years ago. There are people in caucus who don’t evenbelieve in 10,000 years ago.”
