Professional Summaries
Curtis Riou, President & Principal Geoscientist
Curtis has been working in the oil and gas industry since 1998 with an extensive knowledge of soil, water, and air sampling techniques and is member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan. Curtis has obtained Environmental Professional (EP) certification through Environmental Careers Organization Canada. Since 1997, Curtis has acted as project lead for numerous projects for the oil and gas community working on environmentally sensitive government-owned lands including arctic and aeolian environments. Curtis has also performed many Phase I, II and III Environmental Protection Plans, Project Proposals, Restoration Plans, pre-disturbance and reclamation studies. Current projects include TransGas/SaskEnergy integrity digs monitoring, Project Proposals preparation, and construction monitoring.
Curtis was previously employed by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment in the parks department for Greenwater Lake Provincial Park, Saskatchewan. This developed his understanding of governmental policies within Saskatchewan. This work involved the development and communication of programs that educated stakeholders on the integrated resources management practices for the area. This involves knowledge of First Nations culture and customs, as they are a major stakeholder for the area.
Curtis also has experience as a Soil and Terrain Specialist on a Pipeline Inspection Team on transmission throughout the Northeast United States. This involved site terrain surveys and inspection to determine susceptible areas that would cause stress corrosion cracking in natural gas transmission lines. Curtis was also a part of an advisor committee of engineers from the University of Saskatchewan for Water Security Agency. The committee reviewed a discussion paper for the development of an integrated water management strategy for Saskatchewan.
Shawn Daschuk, VP Finance and Human Resources
Mr. Daschuk is the past President and a co-founder of X-Terra. Shawn has more than 24 years of environmental experience in the oil and gas and environmental industry. Shawn has overseen several portfolios for oil and gas clientele and provides senior technical support for a variety of environmental programs. Shawn’s experience ranges from pre-disturbance environmental assessments through to final reclamation. Shawn’s project experience includes detailed soil surveys, environmental site assessments, pipeline environmental inspections, construction supervision, waste management, remediation, bio-treatment of hydrocarbons, contaminant mapping, and reclamation. Mr. Daschuk also has vast experience working with provincial and federal regulatory bodies, landowners, First Nations groups, and other stakeholders. For the past 5 years, Shawn had been working with engineering teams at the planning stages of projects in identifying strategies to work within the environmental constraints of projects to ensure timelines for project execution could be met. Presenting the information to various regulatory agencies to ensure communication and a proactive approach to new projects was taken to streamline approvals. Assisting various groups in the application review phase in addressing regulatory information requests, pre-approval and preparing compliance monitoring initiatives to ensure approval conditions are met during the execution phases of projects.
Corey Linnen, V.P Operations /Principal Ecologist
Corey is a member of the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists with over 17 years of experience as a working ecologist throughout Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario and the Northwest Territories. His primary experience is in large-scale environmental assessment, project management, and leading multi-disciplined teams in carrying out environmental projects related to oil and gas and environmental regulation. Corey has completed numerous environmental assessments for large scale oil and gas programs, pipelines, and mine sites.
Lacey Teasdale, Senior Environmental Specialist & Manager AB Environmental Assessment
Lacey is a member of the Alberta Institute of Agrologists with over 14 years of experience as an environmental consultant throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta. Her primary experience is in environmental assessment and project management as part of carrying out environmental projects related to oil and gas and environmental regulation in Alberta. Lacey has completed numerous environmental assessments for oil and gas drilling programs, pipelines, and exploratory activities. These include annual drilling programs in north and central Alberta.
Lacey has extensive experience in environmental planning and regulatory approvals, providing client/regulator liaising, wetland delineation, classification and assessment, environmental monitoring of construction activities, conducting wildlife surveys and wildlife species at risk surveys, as well as is knowledgeable in multiple regulatory regimes in regard to environmental planning in regard to wetland, wildlife and construction regulatory requirements. Over her career she has lead the delivery of countless associated regulatory reports to receive approval for oil and gas projects, including Wetland Assessment and Impact Reports, Protection Plans, Project Proposals, Environmental Review Forms, Private Land Checklists, Reclamation Plans and Mitigation Plans.
Kirsten Allen, Biologist / Manager Environmental Assessment
Kirsten is a member of the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists with over 9 years of experience in terrestrial ecology and hydrology, including 7 years in the field of environmental consulting. As a Biologist and Project Manager Kirsten has worked on oil and gas projects, technical proposals, weed management plans, biophysical baseline studies, pre-disturbance assessments, and environmental assessments. This work includes ensuring compliance with and providing up to date information to clients on relevant federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal legislation, regulations, and guidelines. She has been involved in all stages of project approvals from the initial desktop screenings to designing and implementing the biophysical field programs in compliance with applicable legislation, writing, reviewing and submitting project proposals to regulators, providing environmental monitoring for projects in the construction phases, and assisting in the design and staff scheduling for post-construction monitoring programs. She has experience in logistical planning and leading teams in a variety of environments conducting diverse tasks. Kirsten also provides technical expertise in statistics/study design for biological research and monitoring programs and senior review of deliverables. She has extensive experience with biological field assessments in a variety of ecosystems, such as grassland, aspen parkland, boreal forest, and tundra.
Randy Slater, Lloydminster Operations Manger
Randy received a graduate diploma in Renewable Resources Technology at the Kelsey Institute, Saskatoon, SK in 1982. Prior to joining X-Terra Environmental Consulting Ltd. (X-Terra), Randy was employed for 25 years with Saskatchewan Environment (SE) in the regulatory and compliance discipline. The last 10 years of this employment dealt with specifically managing SE’s interests in industrial activities (primarily oil and gas, mineral exploration and utility) in Northwest and Central Saskatchewan. Randy has a thorough understanding of the principles of ecosystem and risk-based management, environmental protection concepts, and environmental legislation and protocols used by SE in decision-making. Randy was a significant contributor to designing and implementing environmental review processes and program delivery strategies for the oil and gas, mineral exploration and utility industries in Saskatchewan. Working with SE has also provided Randy with extensive experience in consultation with various interest groups, First Nation, government agencies, and the public as well as a thorough understanding of the function and role performed by various government agencies in and outside of Saskatchewan. As an environmental contractor, Randy has been conducting environmental assessments and monitoring and managing aspects for various projects with X-Terra since 2005. Randy’s current role is as Operations Manager of the X-Terra Lloydminster office. Randy is involved with managing multiple projects and field staff for various clients in the oil and gas, commercial and utilities industries.
Brian Slater, Environmental Compliance Project Manager
Brian has over 13 years of experience in terrestrial and aquatic ecology, involved in the environmental consulting field, across Saskatchewan, Alberta, northeast British Columbia and Nunavut. He has been managing environmental assessment and environmental monitoring projects for X-Terra and other consulting firms for the last 4 years, specializing in small to large scale environmental assessment projects. Brian has been involved in all stages of project approvals from the initial project scoping and budgeting, completing desktop screenings, designing and implementing the biophysical field programs in compliance with applicable legislation, writing, reviewing and submitting project proposals to regulators, providing environmental monitoring for projects in the construction phases, and the design and staff scheduling for post-construction monitoring programs.
Jeff Kardas, Senior Environmental Advisor
Jeff has over 9 years experience in the environmental consulting industry. He has extensive experience managing field projects, supervising field crews, and writing/reviewing technical reports. Jeff has been involved with planning and implementing numerous sensitive species survey programs throughout Saskatchewan. Jeff has been involved in the management and completion of a variety of reclamation and remediation programs within the oil and gas industry. This has included Phase I, II, and III environmental site assessments, emergency spill response, groundwater monitoring well installation and sampling, detailed site assessments, and acknowledgement of reclamation (AOR) submissions. In addition, he has worked as an environmental monitor on a variety of construction projects throughout sensitive habitats throughout British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. These monitoring projects have included a variety of work scopes including wellsite preparation, pipeline installation, horizontal directional drilling, and transmission line maintenance/construction.