Resolutions

Therefore be it resolved that the SUMA lobby the provincial Ministry of the Environment to provide information on the amount of inter-jurisdictional pollution coming from Alberta’s oil sands and to assist the northern municipalities in developing a strategy to protect our environment from this pollution.

Response: The ministry has conducted lake acid sensitivity assessments from 262 lakes in 2007 and 2008, with continued field sampling in September 2009. The lake acid sensitivity monitoring includes 86 lakes that have been monitored over two years with additional lakes sampled each year to allow the ministry to monitor and detect change in the most sensitive lakes. Since 2007, the ministry has developed its mobile air monitoring lab to locations in the northwest of the province including: Tatukose; Buffalo Narrows; Isle a La Crosse; Loon Lake Cluff Lake; and Beauval. Air quality monitoring done by the ministry in north western Saskatchewan has shown that ambient air quality levels are well below the province’s ambient air quality levels are well below the province’s ambient air quality standards for sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter. In 2007, the ministry placed seven wet deposition monitoring stations along the Saskatchewan-Alberta border to determine precipitation acidity. The average pH of the last two years of precipitation data ranged form 5.2 to 6.2. The ministry is currently developing a comprehensive Northwest Sustainable Development Plan, which will be used as a key tool for any land use/resource development management policies for the region. Work on the plan has focused on the science so that appropriate management decisions can be made