Reuters: Regulatory News: Alberta sets up oil sands monitoring agency

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Alberta sets up oil sands monitoring agency Oct 17th 2012, 20:23 CALGARY, Alberta | Wed Oct 17, 2012 4:23pm EDT CALGARY, Alberta Oct 17 (Reuters) - The Alberta government said on Wednesday it is creating an arms-length scientific agency to monitor the environmental impacts of oil sands production as the industry seeks to expand its markets into regions that are increasingly wary of the process. The Conservative government of Premier Alison Redford said the body will focus on what should be monitored as well methods and locations, following a series of previous scientific studies and government reports that have suggested the Lower Athabasca area of northern Alberta needs to be more closely scrutinized. "This will include integrated and coordinated monitoring of land, air, water and biodiversity," the government said in a statement. The Alberta oil sands are the world's third-largest crude source, but development requires intrusive methods to extract and process the extra-heavy oil, including open pits, steam-injection and processing plants that are carbon-intensive. Environmental groups have for years campaigned to limit production, and efforts have extended into opposing pipelines to export the crude, such as TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL line to Texas. A management board that was appointed by Alberta environment Minister Diana McQueen will now decide how the agency will operate and how it will be funded. The government said the region will still be monitored through a joint federal-provincial program, in operation since February, until the new agency is set up. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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