Gas plant to get facelift

Okotoks Western Wheel
June 25, 2008 Vol. 33 No.47

By Tamara Neely
Staff Reporter

The Turner Valley Gas Plant will be given a $2 million funding injection from the provincial government to proceed into developing the site into a tourist attraction.
Coun. Barry Williamson, who sits on the Turner Valley Gas Plant Project Team, announced on June 16 that they are ready to take the next step towards developing the Turner Valley Historic Gas Plant for use as a tourist and educational destination.
The announcement is the result of a study completed last fall which looked at options for the gas plant which included developing it into a tourist site or leaving it as is.
Three years ago the Calgary Health Region closed the facility due to possibility of exposure to mercury and the threat of environmental contamination.
The first step in the process of reopening the province-owned gas plant was to remediate the site to Alberta Environment standards, which Williamson said was completed last fall and cost the province approximately $12 million.
While the goal for the gas plant is to have a fully operational tourism and educational facility by 2014, which is the centennial anniversary of the discovery of oil and gas in Turner Valley. The gas plant is a key historical site because it is relatively intact and a good representation of petroleum processing technologies from the 1920s to the 1950s.
Williamson said his understanding of the timeline is to open the facility in stages so guests can visit the site and learn about its historic role in the energy industry in Alberta before 2014.
Aesthetic changes to restore the historic look of the plant, the stabilization of structures and creation of a tourism environment will now be the focus of development, though the budget will have be revisited.
The initial estimate for this phase of development was $5 to $7 million, but Williamson said that number will now have doubled or tripled due to increases in costs relating to construction, such as labour and fuel.
The plan for the site outlined in a 50-page document set two phases of development. The first phase includes the development of an interim visitors’ centre, upgrading water and sewer utilities and cleaning and stabilization of all structures and equipment on site. The second phase includes the development of the plant’s interpretive infrastructure.
The plan, prepared by the Turner Valley Gas Plant Resolution Advisory Panel in 2007, estimated the site will cost $350,000 per year.
The aesthetic and structural changes are ready to be made because the environmental cleanup is considered complete; future cleanup would only happen if the environmental standards change, though the earthen flare will continue to burn on the site.
“People said you’ve still got a fire burning at that site, is that bad stuff or what? The data from the air samples around the earthen flare suggests it’s no worse than what you get in a traffic zone,” said Williamson. “It wasn’t at levels the Alberta Environment would consider harmful.”