Sonoma Technology Inc. (STI) analyzed ambient air quality data collected through the Wood Buffalo Environmental Association (WBEA) monitoring program between 2000 and 2005 at numerous sites in the oil sands area of northern Alberta, Canada and detailed their study in this report.

During this time period, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo saw rapid increases in population growth due to large expansion of oil sands mining and refining operations (Wood Buffalo Municipal Census, 2006). To understand the impacts on air quality in the area, a number of criteria and other pollutants were measured at 12 sites: ozone, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), continuous and 24-hr filter PM2.5, 24-hr filter PM10, sulfur dioxide (SO2), and 24-hr volatile organic compounts (VOCs). Most pollutants showed high temporal variability, indicating the importance of nearby sources at a given monitoring site. High PM2.5 concentrations were nearly all caused by regional and local wildfires and other burning events. In the winter, when concentrations of PM2.5 and other pollutants would be expected to increase due to the development of stable inversion layers as seen in many other locations, concentrations of PM2.5 and other species are not significantly higher, indicating wintertime inversions do not strongly influence high concentrations. NOx concentrations significantly increased between 2001 and 2005 at Albian Mine, Fort Chipewyan, Patricia McInness, and Millennium Mine. SO2 concentrations at industrial monitoris increased, while SO2 concentrations at population-oriented monitors did not ch ange significantly. High ozone concentration events occurred at only a few sites; in some areas it is common to see local ozone formation or titration impacting an individual site in addition to the regional, photochemically driven signature (Banta et al., 2005; Daum et al., 2003; Kleinman et al., 1997; 1998; Murphy and Allen, 2005; Trainer et al., 2000). Prncipal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on VOC data. Mobile sources typically accounted fro the greatest variance. Non-mobile sources of benzene, trimethylbenzenes, and toluene were evident and are likely from the oil sands operations. Solvent usage from industrial operations was also identified; typically, these solvent factors account for 20% of the variance.