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ERCB approves Strathcona County upgrader
News Articles | Edmonton Journal | Ryan Cormier | September 17, 2010
Read the full article on the originating site
EDMONTON — The Energy Resources Conservation Board has conditionally approved Total E&P Canada Ltd.‘s construction of an oilsands upgrader in Strathcona County, over objections of those who live closest to the site.
The board approved the project Thursday, after a June hearing about the proposed facility, just north of Fort Saskatchewan, which could eventually convert 300,000 barrels of bitumen from the oilsands into synthetic crude each day.
According to policy, Total does not release cost forecasts, but in 2007, when the project was young, industry experts estimated the first of two construction phases would cost between $5 billion and $6.5 billion. At that time, the estimate was that the upgrader would convert 200,000 barrels a day.
The approval comes with conditions. The board stipulated that Total must reach a sulphur recovery rate of 99.5 per cent within six months of the startup. In terms of safety, the company must submit and conduct a full emergency response before any work is done.
To avoid noise pollution, Total, a French oil giant, must update their baseline sound monitoring surveys to meet ERCB regulations, revise their noise assessment six months before startup and survey sound impact three months afterwards.
Also, the construction of the upgrader must begin by Oct. 1, 2016, or the approval will expire at the end of that same year.
Those conditions don’t impress Wayne Groot, a potato farmer in Strathcona County and a member of Citizens for Responsible Development, a local group concerned about industry use of land near their homes.
“They haven’t properly addressed the issues of air quality, so I really feel for the people who will live within a kilometre or two of this upgrader,” he said.
“I’m not surprised, because it’s the government’s will that these go through.”
The members of Citizens for Responsible Development live within 20 kilometres of the site, and are surrounded by industry in an area known as the Alberta Industrial Heartland. The group opposed the project at the June hearing, with concerns over health impacts, air pollution, risks to water supplies, light and noise pollution, and infrastructure and land use.
While two board stipulations are based on emergency plans, Groot said such plans should be based on community standards, not the ERCB’s.
Anne Brown, another member of the citizens’ group, had a similar reaction as she read the report Thursday afternoon. “We’re very, very disappointed our concerns weren’t addressed.”
Total released a statement thanking Strathcona residents for their input, and promised to work with them in the future.
“We are pleased with the ERCB’s decision and appreciated the opportunity to present our project to the public. We are now going to take the time to study the decision report and determine next steps,” the company’s statement reads.
The ERCB acknowledged the local objectors, but counted them as few voices among many.
“While some members of the region are opposed to the proposed upgrader, representatives from the surrounding municipalities have strongly endorsed the project and the benefits that it will provide,” the board’s report reads.
Sheila Muxlow, director of the Sierra Club for the Prairies, said the decision unsurprisingly continues the 100-per-cent approval rate of such projects.
“Although there are conditions on the sulphur output, there are no conditions on nitrogen dioxide or benzine emissions — two major chemicals linked to respiratory illness and blood cancer respectively,” Muxlow said.
Mike Hudema of the local Greenpeace chapter said the decision was heartbreaking.
Neil Shelly, executive director of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association, was cautiously optimistic about the decision.
“This doesn’t mean the project is for sure going to go ahead. This project is based upon receiving and upgrading bitumen from the Joslyn mine project, which is currently just going through the ERCB process.”
The hearing for that project is slated to run in Fort McMurray from Sept. 21 through Oct. 1.
The upgrader will contribute an estimated $200 million in annual provincial taxes and $300 million in annual federal taxes, according to the ERCB report. Another $20 million to $30 million in property taxes will be paid to the county each year.
The City of Fort Saskatchewan supported the project.
The June hearings had their own controversy when security personnel hired by Total began filming critics of the project.
Tagged with: total, energy resources conservation board, strathcona county
