Gas plant ‘sludge’ concerns residents

Okotoks Western Wheel
July 16, 2008
Vol. 33 No. 50

By Tamara Neely
Staff Reporter

Alberta Environment is investigating unidentified substances that appear to be oozing through a containment wall at the Turner Valley gas plant into the Sheep River.
On July 7, Turner Valley resident Roxanne Walsh alerted Alberta Environment to a number of suspicious substances along the rocky containment wall, which was designed to prevent contamination from the gas plant from entering the river.
Cara Van Marck, a spokesperson for Alberta Environment, said Monday that initial test results indicate there is no presence of hydrocarbons and tests gave results within or below Canadian drinking water guidelines.
“We don’t know for sure what is causing the discoloration and where it’s coming from,” said Van Marck. “Our initial analysis is bacteria is acting on high-levels of iron in the water.
“It could be from the natural levels in the water or it could be from something else, so we’re continuing to investigate.
Van Marck explained that Stantec, on behalf of the ministry of Culture and Community Spirit, took six samples: four at the site and one upstream and one downstream, and provided the results to Alberta Environment. Alberta Environment took three samples at the site and continues to conduct testing.
“Our guys are still out there and will test anything unnatural looking,” said Van Marck. “At this point there is nothing to worry about.”
According to Walsh substances appear to be entering the river from three locations: a spring feeding into the river has an orange residue; there is a second point where a thick rust coloured sludge is feeding into the river; and a third point where green murky water with an oily sheen sits in still water between the wall and the main river body.
Walsh and other residents are concerned that the containment wall is not doing its job of preventing hydrocarbons and other industrial chemicals from the province-owned site from entering the waterway.
“We have the provincial government spending millions of dollars to build a containment wall to stop contaminants from leaking into the river, but it’s obvious to me that stuff is still leaking into the river,” said Walsh. “All that money that the taxpayers have spent because the Province wants to take a risk management approach to this and not clean it up.”
The Province has spent $11 million to address environmental problems at the site and in May 2007 the containment system was completed at a cost of $5 million.
The system was designed to capture hydrocarbons and other contaminants at the site and channel them, along with the groundwater from the site, through a water treatment process and then the processed water is released into the river.
Walsh was further alarmed that the three places where it appears that contamination is leaking through the containment wall are the same three places where she identified contamination entering the river in 2005 before the system was constructed. At that time, Walsh photographed and videotaped the contamination entering the river, and she said the landmarks confirm the locations are the same.
Walsh is concerned about the effect leaking chemicals could have on neighbouring and downstream wells, as well as the health effects on people, pets, fish and wildlife that use the river.
Walsh had not received a call from Alberta Environment in response to her concern about the substances and would like to know what chemicals they tested for. She would like to know which chemicals were found to be within acceptable levels for drinking water and why the containment system isn’t catching the yet-unknown substances.
The appearance of unknown substances moving toward the water prompted Walsh, Coun. George Wallace and others to question why the Province decided to contain the contamination instead of removing it and whether the containment system can effectively prevent chemicals from leaking into the Sheep River.
Turner Valley Coun. George Wallace said he would like to see the concentrated pockets of contamination located, removed and clean soil put in its place.
“The government took it on by buying it for a dollar from Western Decalta,” said Wallace. “(Western Decalta) should’ve cleaned it up, or at least part of it. It’s their responsibility – they made all the money from it.
“The price of cleanup has quadrupled since then.”
Wallace said he informed Turner Valley council about the recent discovery and they are waiting to receive Alberta Environment’s test results.
“When the tests come back we’ll know if it’s real dangerous, dangerous or just bad,” said Wallace.
Turner Valley resident Alex Fortier said the $2 million the Province has budgeted to upgrade the old gas plant buildings would be better spent on further remediation.
“I think they should continue to clean (the contamination) up before they spend a bunch of money on painting. I think cleanup is the most important thing,” said Fortier.
Looking at bird tracks in the neon-coloured sludge, Fortier said he wonders if any containment system can be 100 per cent successful in keeping the industrial chemicals out of the river.
“I don’t think you can contain it good enough. A lot of people wouldn’t like to hear that the best thing is to get rid of the plant, clean it up and put in nice, clean soil and make a park out of it. The containment is just holding (the contamination) in, it’s not really doing anything for cleanup – it’s supposedly holding it in.”
Lisa Shankaruk, public affairs officer with the ministry of Culture and Community Spirit, said the containment system was built to last forever.
Once they review the test results the ministry can look into further action, Shankaruk said, but at this point the issue does not have any impact on the $2 million restoration work planned.
Alberta Environment has a hotline to call with concerns about environmental problems: 1-800-222-6514.
Alberta Environment will also come out to sample water wells if people are concerned about the quality of their drinking water.