Once again Ponoka County council has been approached by the Parkland Airshed Management Zone (PAMZ) for membership; a decision delayed to budget discussions.
CAO Charlie Cutforth told council’s regular meeting the county had been approached by PAMZ for a membership several years ago but the organization was denied. He said the difficulty with the past decision was that PAMZ only covers a small portion of the county.
PAMZ has one station in the county, near Bluffton, and for the few thousand dollars it costs Reeve Paul McLauchlin feels the benefits are worthy of the cost.
“There’s increased activity in the west country, quite a bit of activity actually,” said McLauchlin, referring to drilling operations.
When drilling wells, gas can be hit or created by the activity. While the operations will flare the gas to get rid of harmful emissions, some can still escape into the air.
Residents are also concerned with the effects of other gas operations in the area and have the station to monitor air quality is a safety feature and assurance.
“Do we get calls about air quality,” Coun. Mark Matejka asked. McLauchlin says the county does occasionally receive complaints.
“It’s (a membership) probably worthwhile. There’s a little bit of pressure for us not being involved,” McLauchlin added. He was also referring to other groups previous councils have denied in the past, including the Battle River Watershed Alliance and Red Deer River Watershed Alliance, all of which will be considered at budget time.