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New rules for heavy oil odours let government off hook, says Peace River farmer

A Peace River farmer says new rules intended to deal with long-standing complaints about powerful, gassy smells from heavy oil operations have allowed the Alberta government to once again shift responsibility for the problem.

The rules, released Thursday by the Alberta Energy Regulator, grew out of a 2014 inquiry held by the AER after years of complaints from people who live near oil operations.

"It's just a bunch of smoke and mirrors," Carmen Langer, an area farmer, said about the new rules. "It's something for the Alberta government to buy a little time."

It's the responsibility of the government, not an arms-length regulator, to resolve problems residents are having, Langer said Friday in an interview from his farm northeast of Peace River.

Residents had complained for years that the odours gave them headaches, nausea and diarrhea. They say livestock was similarly affected and cattle spontaneously aborted calves.

Some people continued to complain about the smells as recently as last fall.

The inquiry concluded the stink was damaging people's health, the first time the AER had acknowledged the odours had a health impact.

A string of recommendations were all accepted by the regulator and the provincial government. The regulator has already implemented 12 of the 16 recommendations.

New rules for practices such as routine flaring and venting of gas are in place and being followed, a spokeswoman for the agency said recently.

The four outstanding recommendations were addressed in Thursday's Directive 84, which had been waiting for government approval since January.

Those rules are scheduled to take effect March 1, 2019. They limit the amount of gas that companies are allowed to flare off during non-routine events to three per cent of total gas production.

They stipulate that 95 per cent of gas generated during heavy oil recovery must be conserved.

The new rules require companies to control odours coming from trucks being loaded or tanks being cleaned. They also include extensive inspection and reporting requirements and say operators must join local air-quality management programs.

More monitoring

Langer said the closest AER office is in Slave Lake, which is too far away from Peace River for effective monitoring.

"Who's going to police it?" he asked. "The government escaped their responsibility again."

The AER should have an office in Peace River, as it does in Fort McMurray and Bonnyville, said Langer.

"You can make all the rules in the world," he said. "If you don't have the policing there to regulate the rules and patrol the problems, nothing changes.

The inquiry also made recommendations to the provincial government, none of which have been implemented.

Alberta Environment is working on a provincial odour standard. Department officials say that standard is still a long way off.

"I think Rachel Notley's government has to stand up and take the responsibility for the people and the problems with this," said Langer.

Alberta Health plans to study the links between odours and health.

After nearly three years, Alberta Health is almost ready to begin a review of previous research. No field studies are planned.

Karen Grimsrud, Alberta's chief medical health officer, has said the province and the Alberta Medical Association expect to give Peace River doctors clinical practice guidelines for environmental health problems early this year.