Lamont Leader, 2007 12 11, p. 3

BY CATHY WEETMAN

Note by folc.ca: Cathy Weetman’s article is posted here with the permission of the Lamont Leader. The fact that the permission was granted does not imply in any way that the Lamont Leader is partial in its reporting of issues relating to industrial development in Lamont County. Any perception of conflict between Hazco’s statements (as reported in the Lamont Leader article) and the appended comments by folc.ca is a result of differences between Hazco’s assertions and folc.ca’s clarifications but does not reflect any bias by the Lamont Leader.

A delegation of four representatives from Hazco were in attendance at the November 27 Lamont Town Council meeting to address concerns raised by councillors over the company’s proposed sulphur processing terminal to be built east of Bruderheim.

Rob Mann, Director of Sulphur Services, Sylvia Holowach, Project Administrator, Andrew Timlick, Business Development, Sulphur Services, Gordon Johnson, with Worley, Parsons Comex, stayed for an hour to answer questions from council about the time line for the proposed project, how large the stack of sulphur pastilles would be, traffic congestion on Highway 15, air monitoring and emergency response by the local fire departments in case of a fire.

Mann reported HAZCO has now completed the Environmental Impact Assessment study and it is now under technical review. From there, the Natural Resources Conservation Board takes over the review, and if the project is approved at that stage, a public hearing will take place. The time-line from now until the public hearing and final approval will be at least a year, he added.

Mann was asked how much truck traffic would be added to the already congested Highway 15. He responded that initially, there would be 40 trucks making round trips daily to and from the site that would be using both Highways 15 and 45. [Emphasis by folc.ca; see also appended comment #1 –WHS]

Another concern brought up by council was the height of the stockpiled sulphur pastilles as opposed to the height of the windscreen. Council was told that the majority of dust would be coming from machinery working at the base of the stockpile [emphasis by folc.ca; see also appended comment #2], and due to the type of sulphur processing equipment, the formed pastilles are much firmer and less likely to crumble than those processed a few years ago. [Emphasis by folc.ca; see also appended comment #3. –WHS]

“The older processes of forming the pastilles made them more susceptible to the wind blowing and causing dust,” noted Mann. [Emphasis by folc.ca; see also appended comment # 2 –WHS]

As to whether local emergency response organizations such as the Bruderheim and Lamont fire departments would need to assist HAZCO with on-site fires, Mann replied that it would depend on the size of the fire. A Level 1 fire could be handled by personnel on site, while a Level 2 fire would require the assistance of a local fire department. In a worse case scenario, a Level 3 fire would require the assistance of NR Care if the plant personnel and fire departments are unable to extinguish the fire. Local fire departments would not require special equipment or training when handling a fire. [Emphasis by folc.ca; see also appended comment #4 –WHS]

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Comments by folc.ca

1. “Initially” is an important key word here. What counts is not so much the initial traffic volume but what the volume of truck traffic will eventually be. Given the volume of sulphur to be formed into pastilles according to Hazco’s intentions, the truck traffic volume would soon intensify to two and more times than what Hazco stated it will initially be. Hazco is fully aware of what the trend in the increase of the traffic volume will be.
2. The hardness of the formed sulphur whose “…formed pastilles are much firmer and less likely to crumble than those processed a few years ago.” Regardless of the forming process used, solidified sulphur has a hardness of 2, about as hard as a fingernail but is brittle and prone to cracking, crumbling and pulverization if put under pressure, such as by a vehicle tire. Robert Mann failed to identify the forming process and locations used that produced much softer pastilles in the past, while the process intended to be used by Hazco will employ forming machines of a type that have been in use by Shell’s Shantz Sulphur Facility for 20 years or more.
3. The sulphur dust to be generated in Lamont County will be due to a major difference between [1] the sulphur-handling process at Shantz and that proposed by Hazco. At Shantz, the whole handling process is by means of a totally enclosed conveyor belt system and large storage silos, while Hazco’s proposal calls for open storage piles and transfer from their sulphur pile to the train-loading facility by means of front-end loaders.
4. Fire fighting, fire-crew readiness and risks. Standards for procedures used in fighting sulphur fires call for a minimum of two fire-fighters wearing self-contained breathing apparatus, with a minimum of a further two fire-fighters that are also equipped with self-contained breathing apparatus standing by in case the active fire-fighters require to be rescued. To my knowledge, so far no agreements are in place as to local fire teams becoming involved in fighting sulphur fires at the proposed Hazco sulphur facility if that should be necessary and desired. (Check the consequences of a recent sulphur fire in Calgary: [2] Huge Fine Handed to Calgary Sulphur Processor.) When I mentioned Hazco’s assertion that “Local fire departments would not require special equipment or training when handling a fire,” to the fire chief of one of our local volunteer fire departments, his comment was: “If that’s they way they feel, let Hazco fight their fires by themselves.”
   No one should blame him for that attitude. After all, his crew consists of our relatives, neighbours and friends who would be risking their lives in potentially dangerous situations whose danger Hazco insisted all along is non-existent.