"CALGARY -- The ugly scars left on the northern Alberta landscape by the oil sands have prompted calls from around the world for an independent body to gather data on the ecological damage wrought by the energy industry."
"But Ottawa has bowed out, with Environment Minister Peter Kent saying he doesn't believe more oversight will make monitoring any better. So now, with the credibility of its primary economic engine at stake, Alberta is going it alone, announcing plans Wednesday for an arms-length agency that will collect and publish scientific measurements on pollutants across the province.
A report prepared for the province calls for a raft of unusual measures to fund the monitoring agency, from a gas tax to a six-cent levy on every barrel produced from the oil sands."
Nathan Vanderklippe reports for the Toronto Globe and Mail October 17, 2012.
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