Provincial energy regulators have ordered the Mazeppa Gas Plant’s owners to create a plan to respond to emergencies after layoffs left six people to manage the facility.
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has ordered the plant’s owner Lexin Resources Ltd. and LR Processing to immediately suspend the plant and related infrastructure.
The company was required to submit incident response and monitoring plans to the provincial government by Aug. 15, but was given an extension to 5 p.m. on Aug. 17. The company is required to show how it would respond to incidents at the facility and complaints, as well as a plan to monitor the plant and related infrastructure in the area.
“The order is requiring them to give us a plan describing how they’ll respond to an incident,” said Ryan Bartlett, AER spokesperson.
The company is also required to provide weekly reports to the regulator and post weekly public reports on the company’s website.
The AER is maintaining regular contact with Lexin through the process.
According to the AER, Lexin notified the regulator on June 30 it terminated most of its staff leaving only six people to operate and manage the Mazeppa facility.
The AER document goes on to state the company informed the regulator on July 29 that in the event of an incident or emergency at the Mazeppa plant or related infrastructure and the company it would not be able to respond and would defer to the AER to manage the situation. Lexin also said the supervisory control and data systems used to monitor sour gas releases for the plant and related infrastructure would no longer be operational. Sour gas is poisonous to humans and animals.
The Western Wheel attempted to contact Lexin by email and phone. No response was received before deadline.
Bartlett said the agency can step in in the event of an emergency if the company is not able to.
“It is the licensee’s responsibility to respond to an incident,” he said. “That said, if a licensee is unwilling or not capable of responding appropriately to an emergency, we do have staff who are trained in emergency response and will take over with an emergency response.”
The plant is currently not in operation and has been shut-in by its owners, but the regulator wants it to go a step further and has ordered it to suspend the plant.
Bartlett said this would require the company to take specific steps to ensure it is left in a safe state. The orders also cover wells and pipelines associated with the facility.
“There are specific rules that have to be followed to make sure that it’s suspended because it may not be operated for a substantial amount of time,” he said.
Bartlett said the AER is looking to ensure all of Lexin’s operations are in compliance with provincial regulations.
Little Bow MLA Dave Schneider said the AER is doing its job. He said there are always hazards when dealing with sour gas and it’s critical to ensure facilities are operating appropriately and hazards are managed.
“Thank God they’re there and we should be applauding them,” he said.
