Three Creeks community members can test the air they have been complaining about now that environmental organizations have stepped up to provide the residents with community air monitors.

Residents have been filing complaints with the Energy Resource Conservation Board (ERCB) since early 2010, and though many measures have been taken to identify emission sources of the odours residents have said made them and their animals sick, to date nothing has been identified.

Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club Prairie Chapter, Keepers of the Athabasca and Global Community Monitor – all non-profit environmental groups – have partnered up to sponsor two initial monitors in the Three Creeks area and two in the Athabasca region.

The Global Community Monitor (GCM) is the brainchild of executive director Denny Larson, based out of San Francisco, California. The goal of the project, which has expanded worldwide since its introduction in 2001, is to empower residents who live around industrial projects and say the emissions are making them sick, to perform tests on the air, independent of government and industry.

At a workshop last week, Larson taught residents how to collect air samples with his bucket system and fill out logs of the emissions impact. He also oversaw the formation of a group of residents responsible for supervising the operation.

After air is collected, residents are to send it to a lab in California where following the testing, the data will be reviewed and interpreted by scientists.

Read more on the Peace River Gazette.