Medicine Hat Minute: HALO Pilot, Special Transit, and Project Clear Horizon

Medicine Hat Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Medicine Hat politics

This Week In Medicine Hat:

• There will be a meeting of the Public Services Committee this afternoon at 3:45 pm. The Medicine Hat Public Library will be in attendance to present their 2023 annual report. The Committee will also hear a Service Area Update from the Managing Director regarding the Report a Problem Portal, National Indigenous Peoples Day, the Heritage Pavilion, and Men's Mental Health Awareness Month.
  
  
• The Administrative and Legislative Review Committee will meet on Tuesday at 4:00 pm. No agenda is available for this meeting yet.
  
  
• The City is gathering community input for a review of its Special Transit service, which caters to people with disabilities. The review will examine industry best practices and identify areas for improvement, including customer service and service delivery. Feedback can be provided through an online survey until June 30th or at an in-person session on June 19th at 6:30 pm at the Unison at Veiner Centre. The City will also gather input from transit drivers and local organizations in separate sessions.

Last Week In Medicine Hat:

• Tourism Medicine Hat reported increased engagement in 2023, with higher website traffic, more event listings, and an 11% rise in visitors to the information center. To maintain this momentum, the Medicine Hat Summers campaign will target outdoor enthusiasts and promote the city’s long, hot summers. The campaign will focus on attracting tourists from Calgary, Edmonton, and, for the first time, Quebec.
  
  
• It was announced that HALO Air Ambulance will collaborate with Cypress County Emergency Services in a pilot project to support regional wildfire response. The emergency helicopter, equipped with advanced communications and staffed by trained professionals, will provide aerial reconnaissance and rapid deployment support during wildfire incidents. Additionally, Premier Danielle Smith announced a new 10-year, $135-million contract with the STARS air ambulance service.
  
  
• Council approved a motion to finalize a potential commercial agreement for a regional carbon capture and sequestration hub near Medicine Hat, known as "Project Clear Horizon." The agreement, discussed in a closed meeting on May 21st, aims to store over 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually through an "open system" allowing private sector access. There are few details at this point, but the motion also included preparations for publicizing the project and initiating stakeholder engagement post-finalization. In 2022, the City received funding and support to study long-term sequestration of carbonite. A $2.5 million grant from Emission Reduction Alberta and a $5 million contribution from the federal government's Energy Innovation Fund were also provided. Additionally, approximately $11 million from discontinued oil and gas projects was redirected to support the exploratory work.

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