The Canadian and Albertan governments released an expansive joint plan Friday for monitoring the environmental impacts of the country's oil sands region, a move that the national government said would improve the industry's image worldwide.

The plan comes as Canada awaits a decision from the European Commission as early as this month on whether to classify oil sands crude as more carbon-intensive than other fuels, an option that would reduce demand for Canada's product there. It also comes as Republicans in the U.S. Congress continue to weigh legislation that would push forward Keystone XL, a proposed pipeline that would have stretched from Alberta to Texas before it was denied a cross-border permit last month by the Obama administration.

On Friday, Environment Minister Peter Kent said the new plan -- which would add almost 100 new sampling sites that test the oil sands' impact on wildlife, water and air emissions -- would have an added benefit of sending a message to other countries.

"The more robust our facts and science with regards to responsible oil sands development, [the more they] will allow us to counter some of the more outrageous expressions of criticism, myths and financially damaging mischaracterizations," Kent said.

In the United States, for example, industry opponents have hammered the oil sands industry for producing a commodity that emits more carbon dioxide in its production process than traditional forms of oil, although the degree of the emission increase is a matter of debate. The industry has long said the concerns are overblown, and called the industry a job creator that would enhance U.S. energy security.

In addition to increasing the number of monitoring sites, the new Canadian framework -- which would be fully implemented in 2015 -- would increase the frequency of environmental sampling of water quality, wildlife movement and air in the oil sands region. It also would increase the types of pollutants tested.

The funding for monitoring stations would double, to up to $50 million annually. The industry would be expected to pay the sum. Kent and Albertan officials said they were confident the money would be forthcoming.

Monitoring air, water and wildlife

The plan calls for new monitoring of sediment near the Athabasca River to assess the chemical makeup of the waterway. In 2010, a peer-reviewed study found that oil sands producers were spewing toxic metals like arsenic into the Athabasca River, a finding that sparked the process leading to release of Friday's monitoring plan.

Under the new framework, there would be new monitoring of the air moving in and out the oil sands region, and an eightfold increase in stations for monitoring of wildlife such as birds and caribou.

There would also be monitoring of greenhouse gases released from tailings ponds created from industrial waste generated by oil sands production, said Jennifer Grant, an analyst at the Pembina Institute, an environmental think tank. "Those emissions are significant," she said.

Production set to increase

She and other environmentalists welcomed the development of a blueprint that would release monitoring results open to the public and would be based on a peer-reviewed process. Supporters of the concept said it would replace a disjointed system that didn't think of the oil sands area as a whole ecosystem.

At the same time, Grant said she was concerned the plan would take three years to implement, raising questions about whether oil sands projects not yet operational would be subject to new review, and possibly be delayed if a problem were found in the air or water supply. That is relevant for climate change, she said, since the industry's increased emissions in comparison to other fuels come on the production side.

Currently, the industry is producing about 1.5 million barrels per day. If you add in projects that are under construction but are not operational, the number jumps to around 2.3 million, Grant said. The value of industry production is $60 billion currently, but could jump to $86 billion annually from 2013 to 2020, the government said Friday.

There also is the question of whether problems discovered via new monitoring would lead to changes in policy. The government has been monitoring caribou for years, but hasn't acted to alter or slow down oil sands development near caribou populations, said Grant.

"Improved monitoring in the oil sands is like installing a smoke detector in an area with no fire department," she said.