A program to monitor cattle health near oil and gas facilities has ended, partly because of the toll on the cattle industry by drought and an economic downturn.
“Agriculture is in kind of a bad way,” said Alice Murray, Shell Canada’s community affairs co-ordinator for the Central Alberta region. “I’m a beef producer too and it’s a tough go.”
“To do good surveys and things like that, you kind of need the same herds over a period of time. So with a big change in the number of herds available that was part of the reason that the study ended.”
The decision to end the $40,000-a-year Sundre Petroleum Operators Group (SPOG) program was also made because a pair of major studies showed little impact on cattle health by oil and gas activity and emissions exposure. The 18-year Caroline Livestock Study tracked 3,000 cattle and the-then Alberta Energy and Utilities Board reported the study shows “the average herd health did not change after sour gas plant operations began, and that the average health and productivity of herds in study is near or above that expected from published benchmarks.”
An $18-million study sponsored by the three Western provinces looked at 33,000 cows between 2001 and 2003 and released its results in 2006 that showed no connection between emissions exposure to non-pregnancy, abortion and stillbirth in cows.
A small increase in calf deaths was associated with highest exposure to the highest concentrations of sulphur dioxide.
Satisfied that the scientific work had already been done, SPOG and its membership of oil and gas companies, community groups and provincial regulators, opted to end the cattle surveillance program and start work on another program to give farmers who are confronted with an oil and gas incident information on what to do and who to call.
“There currently is an absence of any kind of protocol in the province in what to do in an incident. We definitely feel like it’s an area that needs to be addressed.”
When something happens how, it is typically up to individual oil companies and land owners to decide how to deal with it. For instance, there is no established standard on what sort of chemical testing should follow an incident or how quickly it must be done.
The Agriculture Initiatives Program will look at what resources are available. It is funded this year with $10,000 from SPOG.
“It could be something as simple as a resource list. It could be something more complex like protocols. We haven’t figured out exactly what it’s going to look like.”
Education on everything from the roles of agricultural producers and oil companies to food safety may also be compiled.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com