Air Quality Engineer

Randy Dobko

Growing up, Randy Dobko remembers his father pointing out sour gas plants and oil refineries as they travelled in the family car. His father was the first engineer hired by the Alberta government to deal specifically with the province’s air quality issues. At the time, Randy wasn’t convinced it was the career for him. It wasn’t until he landed a summer job in an environmental analysis laboratory with an engineer that Randy made his career choice. "I was interested in how he did all the problem solving based on the analysis of samples we had collected in the field.” At that point, Randy decided he wanted to be a chemical engineer and went on to complete undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry from the University of Alberta.

More than 20 years later, Randy is a Senior Engineer with Alberta Environment. He focuses on air quality issues—just like his father. "In my job, I have to have a wide variety of experience to properly assess a situation.” He has gained this experience by working in many areas within Alberta Environment—including enforcement, compliance, approvals, and standards development—and many industries, including electrical utility, upstream oil and gas, refinery, and fertilizer. Randy spends much of his time at his desk writing, researching, and consulting with other professionals regarding a number of air quality projects. One recent project was writing the air emissions standards for Alberta’s electrical utility sector.

First, Randy provided technical information to a larger multi-stakeholder group that decided on the exact numbers to be used as the standards. He then consulted with the department’s environmental lawyers to ensure the document was written in a language that industry, lawyers, and the public could understand. Randy is also involved in improving and developing new monitoring methods. He does this by keeping abreast of scientific developments in the industry and determining how his department can incorporate these techniques. "I’m expected to be a technical expert. I’m expected to provide responses or positions on a variety of air quality issues for the province and for the industry.”

Despite his expertise, Randy has been unable to convince some of the public about one of the largest misconceptions of the air quality industry. "Just because you can smell it, doesn’t mean it will kill you.” Many of the calls he gets from concerned residents are about odours they think are toxic but are actually harmless. In some cases, he’s given up trying to correct the public about this misconception. "People are entitled to their opinion. I simply try to ensure I’m aware of the latest, most up-to-date information that allows me to convince myself.” This approach also allows him to focus on the job at hand, something he is proud of. "We believe we are doing the right thing [at Alberta Environment]. We are here to represent and protect the public and the environment.”