Auditor general says oilsands monitoring program reporting slow

Alberta Auditor General Merwan Saher singled out the joint Canada–Alberta plan for oil sands monitoring when he stated a need for “improved results analysis reporting.”  Says The Report of the Auditor General of Alberta – October 2014 about the oil sands monitoring program, “The plan describes projects the two governments agreed to carry out over three years starting in 2012. The purpose is to understand the cumulative effects of oil sands development and determine whether the development is environmentally responsible. The two governments released their first annual report 15 months after the plan’s first year ended. The report was not clear on whether the plan was on track; it also contained inaccuracies. The Department of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development’s project management was weak.” Saher said the report made it difficult to understand what tasks has been completed. He noted that in the 15 months between the end of the report and its release significant events occurred, including all First Nations pulling out of the program. In April 2014 the Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency took over Alberta’s commitments under the joint plan. However, Canada’s commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, Julie Gelfand, said in her first report, “We conclude that Environment Canada has implemented most of the projects we examined according to their 2013-14 timelines and budgets. The department has also established quality assurance and quality control procedures and standard operating protocols for each examined project.” However, she said more should be done to consult with First Nations and to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge into Environment Canada’s monitoring activities.