APEGGA Teaming Up
To Sponsor Major
Air Quality Conference
Emerging Air Issues for the 21st Century, a conference scheduled for September in Calgary, won't make the air, nor the related regulations and technology stand still, but will offer regulators, consultants and other professional practitioners a chance to catch the drift of where air-quality issues are headed.
The conference represents a first-time partnership among APEGGA, the
Alberta Society of Professional Biologists (ASPB) and the Canadian Prairie
and Northern Section (CPANS) of the Air & Waste Management Association
(A&WMA). The Air & Waste Management Association is the world's
largest environmental organization and is also a sponsor of the partnership.
Discussions to form a joint partnership to host an international conference
on air issues were ongoing among APEGGA, ASPB and CPANS, starting in early
1996. The commitment to host this conference in Calgary was confirmed through
a memorandum of understanding signed by the sponsoring associations in
the fall of 1996.
A&WMA has an ongoing interest in environmental issues and through
its presence in some 60 countries reaches an international membership of
15,000-plus. The active support of this large technical society with its
diverse membership, plus the participation of the two professional organizations
with a range of environmental expertise, should give the conference a very
multi-disciplinary flavor, says Nina Novak, P.Biol., P.Eng. Along with
Allan Legge, P.Biol., she is co-chair of the conference's technical committee.
As of mid -June, abstracts of technical papers had been received from
more than 60 paper presenters, some from as far away as Europe. About a
third of these papers originate from government organizations, with the
rest generally emerging from universities and research establishment, or
from product and service providers.
Topics expected to be dealt with during the main conference (Sept.
22-24) include: current status and trends in air-quality regulations; international
air-quality protocols; global atmospheric issues; ecological and human
risk assessment; market-based approaches versus command control; biomonitoring
status and trends; air pollution control technologies; and the status of
voluntary initiatives in Canada.
Papers presented from regulators, including ones from such environmental
bell-wheter regions as California, may prove particularly useful, Ms. Novak
suggests. Often such regions provide the cue for other jurisdictions to
follow. For instance, conference participants may be want to gain insight
as to whether, amid the trend toward deregulation, regulators are likely
to set specific criteria for air quality or take more of a risk-based approach.
In conjunction with the main conference, CAPANS and A&WMA are sponsoring
a two-day professional development training program (Sept. 20-21).
Paresh Thanawala, P.Eng., QEP, general conference chair and an active
CAPANS and A&WMA member, says: "These training courses are carefully
selected and designed to enhance professional development for environmental
practioners involved in compliance and management of air issues."
The training courses will delve into five main areas:
