Air

Protecting Air Quality in the Heartland

Like all Albertans, the members of the Northeast Capital Industrial Association (NCIA) are working to minimize our impact on the environment. We live, work and play in this community. There are a number of initiatives and frameworks in place to ensure air quality is protected in the Industrial Heartland.

Heartland Air Monitoring Partnership

In Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, ambient air monitoring is conducted by Heartland Air Monitoring Partnership.

Heartland Air Monitoring Partnership (formerly called Fort Air Partnership) is a not-for-profit organization formed in 1997. HAMP became an official Airshed in 2000, with the purpose of monitoring the air people breathe within a 4,500 square kilometer area located immediately north and east of Edmonton. With Alberta’s Industrial Heartland within their borders, they collect and report on air quality data in a region with some of the most condensed industrial development in the province. NCIA is one of several contributors to HAMP's operations and the largest funding partner as industry support of air monitoring is required as part of the regulatory approval process.

HAMP's network includes 10 continuous air monitoring stations and 16 passive air sampling sites. HAMP produces data that help governments, industry, local residents and other interested groups understand current air quality and air quality trends. It also gives industry an opportunity to analyze credible, objective data and identify ways to improve the management of substances on site. HAMP produces information on air emissions from all sources, not only industry, such as vehicles, homes and businesses, and agriculture.

HAMP's continuous stations currently monitor 19 substances and eight weather conditions. The passive monitors distributed widely throughout the Airshed measure concentrations of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S).

Substances monitored by station

Weekly, quarterly and annual reports regarding the state of air quality in the region

HAMP also has reports on long term trends, exceedances, audits and monitoring plans.

Capital Region Air Quality Management Framework

NCIA and industry along with municipalities, non-governmental organizations, airsheds and the federal and provincial governments completed the Capital Region Air Quality Management Framework (for Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Fine Particulate Matter and Ozone), a shared vision of ambient air quality management in the Capital Region. The Region includes 25 municipalities and has a strong industrial base including refining, chemical manufacturing and electric power generation.

The Framework, now in Phase 2 of implementation, applies a cumulative effects management approach, moving the long-standing system of regulating individual facility emissions to regulating on a regional basis.

More information on air quality is available on the Alberta Environment and Parks website.

Compliance Assurance Program

Alberta's environmental legislation sets out clear rules and obligations for the protection, enhancement and wise use of the environment. Alberta Environment and Parks works with Albertans to ensure the quality of our environment is maintained using a regulatory framework.

The Compliance Assurance Program has three areas of focus to ensure all Albertans enjoy a clean and healthy environment: education, prevention and enforcement.

For more information, including fact sheets, visit the Government of Alberta's Compliance Assurance Program.

Air Monitoring for Industry

The specific monitoring requirements for each industrial operation are tailored to that facility based on the types and quantities of emissions. In general, the larger the emission source or the greater the potential for environmental impact, the more frequent and detailed the compulsory monitoring requirements will be.

While specific monitoring requirements vary, approvals stipulate that industrial operators must monitor stack emissions and the resulting ambient air around their facilities to demonstrate compliance with emission limits and ambient air quality objectives.

In-stack emissions monitoring occurs in two ways:

Manual stack surveys - conducted by trained personnel who collect samples from the stack; or
Continuous emissions monitoring - conducted with equipment installed on the stack.

Industry is required to submit regular monitoring reports to Alberta Environment and Parks. The reports summarize the source monitoring data and outline problems which may have arisen and corrective actions taken. Any measured exceedence of an approved limit must be reported immediately including the source, type and cause of the exceedence.