Gas plant poses potential
health risk
By Pamela Roth
Staff reporter
Members of the Turner Valley Gas Plant Panel received a clear indication
as the extent of the contamination at the historical site at a meeting
last Thursday.
During the panel’s last meeting in Turner Valley, Dr. David R. Williams
of Meridian Environmental Inc. presented a report on risk assessment and
risk management of the site to the panel.
In his presentation, Williams outlined the contaminants of concern, which
include chromium, copper, mercury and petroleum hydrocarbons that are
caused from crude oil, process facilities and products.
According to Williams, hydrocarbons exist in surficial soils around the
compressor plant, north and east of the sulphur plant, east of the propane
plant and at various underground storage tanks throughout the site. The
area of greatest concern was around the buildings.
Elemental mercury was also found in surficial soils around the scrubbing
plant, sulphur plant area, propane plant and absorption and shop.
As far as human health is concerned, both the petroleum hydrocarbons and
mercury exceeded target levels for daily exposure, however, the risks
to aquatic species were found to be acceptable.
“The existing conditions at the site were sufficient to pose a potential
health risk,” said Williams. “A risk assessment is really
a predictive process. If you can prevent that exposure effectively, you
are managing the risks.”
For panel chairman Jim Delay, the information from the risk assessment
came as no surprise.
“The panel has always known about the degree of contamination. In
general, I don’t think there were any shocks,” said Delay.
“While there are still some questions yet to be addressed, it’s
believed it was a reasonable risk assessment.”
Since the panel hopes to preserve the site and turn it into a major tourist
attraction, Williams suggested a number of steps to reduce the risk of
exposure to the contaminants without tearing down the site.
When dealing with the soils impacted by petroleum hydrocarbons, Williams
suggested remediating or capping surficial soils, removing sources, limiting
public access to stained areas, personal protective equipment and ventilating
buildings.
To deal with mercury impacted soils and buildings, similar measures were
suggested, including cleaning and sealing floors of buildings and indoor
air monitoring.
“If they just manage the contamination, it really doesn’t
remove it. It just contains it and controls it,” said Williams.
“It’s all they can really do without tearing down the site.”
Although the ultimate objective is shaping the site as a tourist attraction,
the panel is currently focused on two things: bringing the site up to
code to ensure there are no risks to the public; and dealing with contaminants
on the site that might be or have already found their way into the river.
Construction is underway on a $5 million containment wall that is designed
to prevent hydrocarbons at the site from entering the Sheep River.
The project, which also includes a groundwater treatment system, consists
of a 650-metre erosion and protection wall that will divert ground water
to a treatment plant before entering the river.
After taking a look at the construction of the wall, panel member Laurie
Hodson, an Okotoks town councillor, is pleased with what he has seen and
heard.
“They are proceeding well and I would have to say that all of us
are satisfied with the progress,” said Hodson. “There have
been a number of studies on this site. We want to keep in mind the ultimate
objective.”
Environmental clean up at the site has been ongoing since 1987. Alberta
Environment has already removed contaminants such as asbestos, sulphur
and mercury as part of a $2.5 million 10-year clean up, however, hydrocarbons
and low levels of methyl mercury were found in ground water near the gas
plant just last year.
As a result of the findings, the gas plant was closed to the public in
November 2005 to allow for the clean up of the site and construction of
the containment system.
The panel decided the risk assessment was reasonable and will be looking
at each particular contaminant options in detail at their next meeting.
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Who is this masked
man?
Rob Faust, the Masked Messenger, performs
for a large and enthusiastic audience at The Station Cultural Centre in
Okotoks on Saturday.
photo by Laurel Nadon
Okotoks - Firefighters battle elements to control fire
By Pamela Roth
Staff reporter
 Eight
firefighters from the Okotoks Fire Department managed to douse the flames
of a grass fire at Kinsmen Park within 15 minutes last Wednesday despite
strong winds gusting out of the southwest.
According to deputy fire chief Jim Smith, the fire, which was classified
as medium sized, began near a bench at the bottom of the hill and engulfed
approximately three acres of grasslands on the hill above the park.
Even though it’s not known how the fire began, Smith said it’s
obvious it was sparked by a person. Whether or not it was deliberate,
is a question that remains unanswered.
“It’s definitely not natural causes. It was caused by somebody,”
said Smith. “The whole area causes us problems. Not only in fire
prevention, but also when we are putting out fires. Man and machine; we
need both to put fires out and it’s very difficult to get both in
that area.”
Grass fires and vandalism to Kinsmen Park are nothing new.
Since last March, the fire department has had to respond to approximately
four grass fires at the park. Fortunately, all of those fires were contained
before they spread to any nearby homes.
Wayne Campbell has lived near the park for the last three years and uses
the area on a daily basis to take his dog for a walk.
During his routine walk, Campbell said he always finds an assortment of
trash and what he believes to be stolen property, such as the remains
of wallets, tools, destroyed planters and smashed beer bottles.
Campbell reached his wits end last March when he found the remains of
a small pedestrian bridge lying on the ground, with some pieces containing
several burn marks.
Since then, he said the situation has gotten worse, and when he heard
the news about another grass fire, he couldn’t help but feel disgusted.
“There just doesn’t seem to be any end to the amount of serious
stuff that people are engaging in to have a fun time,” said Campbell.
“It’s just one thing after another. As far as I’m concerned,
it’s gotten a lot worse. It’s a shame.”
Okotoks RCMP is hoping to catch whoever is responsible for setting the
blaze, but can’t do it without the help of the community.
“We are hoping for somebody to come forward and give us names so
we’ll be able to identify those responsible,” said Staff Sgt.
Gary Graham. “We are very interested in finding out who’s
responsible.”
Anyone with any information about the fire is asked to call the Okotoks
RCMP detachment at 938-7046.
In the mean time, Smith is encouraging the public to be more careful when
it comes to preventing fires and to make sure smoking material is disposed
in a proper container.
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In this issue...
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Musical Miracle
Cowboy Celtic back with fresh outlook and new CD
• See Scene
Hall of Famer
Cody Snyder to be
honoured by PBR
• See Sports |
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