The Alberta Cattle Commission isn’t apologizing for trying to bury a report it commissioned.
“We didn’t want the report released,” said ACC manager Gary Sargent. “It was a draft and it had all kinds of problems with it.”
Alberta’s provincial information commissioner recently forced the government to release the study of oil industry effects on livestock. The original 842-page report was completed in April 1995 but was never allowed into public hands. A smaller version, which some critics said watered down its criticisms of the oil and gas industry, was released by the cattle commission this summer.
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The cattle commission is overseen by a government agency.
Sargent denied the provincial government had pressured the commission to hold back the report. He said the commission itself was unhappy with the original document. The government merely supported the commission’s stand.
“The report had a number of deficiencies in it that made it go back for further revision,” he said.
The shorter “final” version developed a clearer Alberta focus, provided recommendations and conclusions, answered serious criticisms of the first report and was written in language that producers can understand, Sargent said.
He suggested producers study the official version, not the one the commission sought to suppress.
“That kind of report being out there is not particularly useful for cattle producers or lay people because they’re not able to determine what’s fact and what’s not fact.”
Since the official version came out the cattle and oil industries have embarked on a number of initiatives to lessen the damage of oilfield activity on cattle producers, Sargent said.
