July 3, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

The following graph shows sulphur-price trends over time.

People asked me a few times during the past few weeks about what is happening with the feared construction of the HAZCO sulphur-storage, -forming and -shipping facility that HAZCO so eagerly and urgently wanted to build not quite two miles east of Bruderheim, at the junction of Highway 45 and RR 202.

Well, the NRCB hearing last year decided to give HAZCO the go-ahead on that; against the wishes of many opponents.

It seems that HAZCO’s sense of urgency that drove their application evaporated in consequence of the collapse of the sulphur-price-bubble that had emerged in 2007 and popped by the end of 2008.

For most of 2009 plant-gate sulphur prices were below $0.00/LT and even as as low as -$29.52/LT.  That means that sulphur sources would have paid as much as $28.52/LT to selected “purchasers” just to have excess sulphur taken off their hands.

In other words, for as long as sulphur requires a subsidy to be leaving plant gates, to which then still the cost of forming and shipping the sulphur to Vancouver must be added before it can be injected into the saturated world market, it is not likely that producers or HAZCO will make a profit on selling, forming and shipping of sulphur.

It seems that common sense in standard business practices applies.  For now the sulphur business that HAZCO wanted to engage in at a profit is a bust and will not generate the revenues required for the cost of constructing the HAZCO sulphur facility, aside from the cost of forming and shipping of sulphur.

However, I am not the expert.  Perhaps it is possible to obtain better information from HAZCO or from the Lamont county planners who are busy having the infra-structure built from our tax money with which they hope to attract industries that will pay back what they invest.

Mind you, losses are not a great concern for the county planners or for the NRCB.  Whatever losses they cause will be paid for by the taxpayers.  It’s a no-risk business for planners and for the NRCB, although the taxpayers will lose a great deal even if the HAZCO facility will not be built.

The whole deal is not worth it to me to spend more time on.  I am through worrying about bubbles, and it likely that another bubble will not pop up for quite some years.  The last bubble we had pop up in the same place, before this one, popped up about 40 years ago.  Perhaps it will now be another 40 years before the next one pops up and then bursts.

Posted in Taxes, Town of Bruderheim, Community & Industry, World Sulphur Glut, Sulphur Logistics, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

April 13, 2009 by Walter Schneider.

The Edmonton Journal
Edmonton,Alberta,Canada
April 13, 2009

Bruderheim families voice safety concerns over ‘dangerous’ plan
By Andrea Sands,

…Area homeowners are also worried that train cars carrying sulphur to and from the plant may derail. Debbie Bishop, a lawyer for FOLC, said residents don’t … (Full Story)

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Note by folc.ca: The article identified above discusses the concerns of FOLC (Friends of Lamont County) that county residents in the vicinity of a proposed sulphur-forming, -storage and -shipping facility to be built less than two miles east of the Town have, if the Natural Resource Conservation Board (NRCB) gives HAZCO permission to build the sulphur plant and storage facility at the intended location.

The sulphur storage will have a capacity of up to 90,000 tonnes.  That is the carrying capacity of approximately six sulphur unit-trains of a hundred cars each and six times the amount of sulphur that burned in the disastrous sulphur fire that harmed thousands of residents at the town of Macassar, South Africa, in 1995.  Macassar was located at a somewhat greater distance from that sulphur fire than Bruderheim is located in relation to the proposedHAZCO sulphur plant.

The NRCB hearing will be held during an estimated four-day interval at the Lakeview Inn & Suites, 10115 - 88 Ave, Fort Saskatchewan.  The hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m., April 14, 2009.

The NRCB hearing is crucial to the future of the people who live in Lamont County.  What is at stake is essentially whether Lamont County — at the very least the areas that have been rezoned Heavy Industrial, and the areas adjacent to them — will within the space of a few years become as devoid of residences as is the Industrial Heartland in Strathcona County.

HAZCO’s sulphur facility poses a threat to residents within a large radius from its location (including the residents of Bruderheim and Lamont).  That is what is at stake at the NRCB hearing beginning on Tuesday.

It is in the best interest of every single resident of our county to attend.  It is especially in the interest of the residents of Bruderheim and Lamont to attend.

A good number of concerns by Lamont-County residents have not yet been addressed satisfactorily.  It is our health, our lives and our wellbeing that is at stake.

Make sure you are there!

 Lakeview Inn & Suites

10115 - 88 Ave, Fort Saskatchewan,

April 14, 2009, 9:00 a.m.

The details of the concerns by FOLC can be looked up at this link.

More information about sulphur fires is accessible at folc.ca.

Posted in Energy Purchases, Fines & Penalties, Hazco, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Hydrogen-Sulphide, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

February 4, 2009 by Walter Schneider.

The transcript of a letter (appended) received from FOLC’s lawyer will correct false and misleading rumours that have been set into motion and are circulating.

The rumours motivated some individuals to distance themselves from FOLC and thereby to stop resisting the attempts to impose on the residents of Lamont County industrial processes that are potentially harmful in a variety of ways, in respect to health, lives, properties and our way of life, in addition to not yet identified increased tax burdens because of not yet specified necessary upgrades to the County’s infrastructure (e. g.: requirements for road construction, fire-fighting and emergency response capabilities).

The transcript of the letter:

ACKROYD, LLP
BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS

RICHARD C. SECORD, LLM
(780) 412-2717
rsecord(_at_)ackroydlaw.com
ASSISTANT: NICOLE MAH
(780) 423-8905 ext 243
nicolem(_at_)ackroydlaw.com

OUR FILE No. 136695/RCS

YOUR FILE No.

January 31, 2009

Members of the Friends of Lamont County

Dear Friends of Lamont County Members:

Re:    HAZCO ALBERTA SULPHUR TERMINALS LTD.
SULPHUR FORMING AND SHIPPING FACILITY APPLICATION NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION BOARD (”NRCB”) HEARING APRIL 14, 2009

We have been retained by the Friends of Lamont County (”FOLC”) to represent it at the Natural Resources Conservation Board (”NRCB”) Hearing which will take place on April 14, 2009 in Fort Saskatchewan. An NRCB Pre-hearing Conference meeting was held in Lamont on January 27, 2009.

In paragraph 27 of the Pre-hearing Submission filed by the FOLC, it stated:

… in order to effectively participate in the hearing, they require expert advice and legal counsel. As they receive no financial benefit from the Project, they should not have to finance the cost of the experts and legal counsel.

We understand that you may have been contacted by various individuals suggesting that membership in the FOLC may result in liability for legal fees and expert costs in the event that all of those costs are not recovered through the NRCB’s Intervener Cost Claim Process.

We wanted to let you know that our retainer to act for FOLC is on the basis that our legal fees will be recovered through the NRCB Intervener Cost Claim Process. In the event that all of our legal fees are not recovered in that process, there will be no additional levy to any of the members of the FOLC.

- 2 -

The experts that are working for the FOLC have also been retained on the same basis. These experts will be filing reports which will assist the NRCB in determining whether the HAZCO project is in the public interest. In· the event that the FOLC experts do not receive full payment through the NRCB Intervener Cost Claim Process, there will be no additional levy to any of the members of the FOLC.

If you have any questions about the basis of our retainer, please do hesitate to contact the undersigned at 780-412-2717 or Kevin Schultz at 780-940-9832 or Denis Van Brabant at 780-818-2011.

Yours truly,

ACKROYDLLP

(Signed)

RICHARD C. SECORD RCS/nm

q:\secord\130009-149000\ 136\136695 folc\09-01-31.doc

---

1500 FIRST EDMONTON PLACE, 10665 JASPER AVENUE, EDMONTON, ALBERTA T5J 3S9 TELEPHONE (780) 423-8905 FAX: (780) 423-8946

Posted in Community & Industry, Sulphur Logistics, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

December 20, 2008 by Walter Schneider.

news-press.com
Fort Myers, Florida, USA

2008 12 19

BREAKING: Chinese drywall in Lee County homes may be causing health problems

By Mary Wozniak and Dick Hogan

….We have been provided with evidence of complaints of issues of sulfur odors in homes. We have been told about the associated failure of (air conditioning) coils,” he said.

The drywall appears to be emitting sulfur compounds that are corroding coils and other copper-bearing materials, causing them to be replaced repeatedly.

Eldredge cautioned that the health department cannot confirm exactly what the source of the problem is, but the department is working with a consultant representing a homebuilder who believes sulfur gases from drywall are the problem.

“We have not reviewed that data nor can we confirm or support that contention,” he said. “Our primary concern at the heath department is whether or not this is a health risk,” he said.

“It certainly does raise concerns,” said Dr. David Krause, toxicologist for the state Health Department. “There may be a direct health threat,” he said.

The drywall could be emitting one of several sulfur compounds, including sulfur dioxide or hydrogen sulfide, he said….(Full Story)

More on the Chinese drywall problems:

The Defective Chinese Drywall Debacle
Date Published: Monday, January 26th, 2009

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Comment by folc.ca: Whether emissions of sulfur dioxide or of hydrogen sulfide in homes constructed with Chinese-made drywall are the problem has not yet been proven and remains to be seen.

All drywall contains sulphur, as all drywall consists in the majority of gypsum.  Gypsum can be mined but it is also a waste by-product of the fertilizer industry and of fossil-fuel-fired power generation — whenever sulphuric acid is used to leach metals or minerals from ore, or whenever sulphur dioxide needs to be removed from the exhaust gases of fossil-fuel-burning thermal power plants.

For example, industrial processes produce gypsum when sulphur dioxide is being neutralized by passing it through a slurry of water and lime.  Sulphur dioxide reacts with the calcium in the slurry that it is being percolated through to form gypsum (hydrated calcium sulphate, CaSO₄·2H₂O).

The slurry is being stored in settling ponds in which the gypsum settles from its suspension in the water.  The water is then returned to the scrubbing process.  That process produces mountains of gypsum with often massive proportions.

A characteristic of the gypsum that is a waste by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry is that it is radioactive, about 60 times more radioactive than the phosphate fertilizer produced.  That is due to the circumstance that the phosphate rock that is a feedstock for phosphate fertilizer production contains isotopes such as of uranium and thorium that become concentrated in the waste gypsum (a.k.a. phosphogypsum) during the production processes.

Interestingly, in connection with gypsum production through large-scale industrial processes, the highest geographical feature in all of Florida is a man-made mountain of gypsum.

The huge, unsightly mounds can stretch across hundreds of acres. Some covered, some uncovered–these mountainous stacks can be an eyesore on the flat, sandy Florida skyline. Whitish gray in color, with a crusty surface look like massive heaps of table salt that tower up to 200 feet high.

This is Florida’s stockpile of phosphogypsum. More than 600 million tons of it are already on the ground and an additional 30 million tons accumulate yearly….(Full Story)

_________________

Florida has a large quantity of phosphate deposits, particularly in Bone Valley region. However, the marine-deposited phosphate ore from central Florida is highly radioactive, and as such, the phosphogypsum by-product is too radioactive to be used for most applications. As a result, there are about 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum stacked in 25 stacks in Florida (22 are in central Florida) and about 30 million new tons are generated each year.^[2]

(Wikipedia: Phosphogypsum)

The presence of sulphur in industrial environments causes problems with computer equipment and cell phones, as the sulpur compounds in the atmosphere will affect the soldered connections of microchips, often causing them to fail.  Such problems manifest themselves in surprising circumstances that often have no direct connection at all to either fertilizer production or comparable industrial processes.  For instance,

Ford investigative team solves automotive ‘mysteries’

Reliable Plant Magazine - Tulsa, OK, USA,

Nov/Dec 2006

Central Lab chemist Tom Munie discovered that the solder on the motherboards and other circuitry within these computers had been attacked by sulfur, ….

“We were seeing a lot of new computers in one particular area of the design center that were malfunctioning – sometimes within the first 30 days,” says Ford commodity analyst Cyndi Morrell….(Full Story)

It could be a bit of a red herring to focus the examination of sulphur problems in Florida just on Chinese-made drywall.  After all, drywall is drywall (unless China used its drywall to dispose of other forms of its waste sulphur — of which its growing economy has many).  On the other hand, Florida has a lot of sources of sulphur that can contaminate its environment and cause failures of copper-containing equipment components or may even cause a variety of health problems.

Perhaps one of the first issues to be examined should be whether any of Florida’s phosphogypsum was exported to China and whether then it was used there to produce drywall that was exported to the whole world and to Florida.  It would not hurt to prove that that route of environmental pollution in Florida can and should be ruled out.

Then it may be worth the effort to see how much of Florida’s phosphogypsum made its way into road and parking lot construction in Lee County and in other areas affected by sulphur-pollution problems.  After all, Florida ran a lot of experiments in the early 1990s to find practical ways by which to get rid of its masses of waste-phosphogypsum.

_________
Update 2010 09 07: The US Consumer Products Safety Commission has set up a Drywall Information Center that offers a large variety of information regarding the issue of the drywall problem, tests and remedial action.

In short, the problem exists, it is large and requires at times expensive remediation.  However, one of the most important pieces of advice regarding the drywall issue is contained in a Consumer Alert by the US Federal Trade Commission: Defective Imported Drywall: Don’t Get Nailed by Bogus Tests and Treatments, to which the CPSC Drywall Information Center established a prominent link on its home page.

Posted in Heavy-Metal Poisoning & Pollution, Community & Industry, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Hydrogen-Sulphide, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | 3 Comments »

September 21, 2008 by Walter Schneider.

Herald News Services
Published: Saturday, September 20, 2008

Oilsands - Syncrude Canada Ltd.’s cost for installing equipment to cut emissions of deadly sulphur dioxide has more than doubled to $1.6 billion, the joint-venture’s biggest shareholder said Friday….(Full Story)

See all stories on this topic.

Posted in Community & Industry, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

January 3, 2008 by Walter Schneider.

Jan 2008 [Alberta Construction Magazine]

Alberta’s industrial construction sector is seeing a shift in its centre of gravity.
by Godfrey Budd

In recent years, oilsands development in the Fort McMurray region has accounted for the lion’s share of industrial construction projects in the province. This has been the pattern since the current round of expansion began around 2000. But it is about to change….

The year 2007 saw construction starts on two Edmonton-area upgrader projects. After receiving board approval in November 2006, construction began on the expansion of Shell’s upgrader at Scotford in Strathcona County. Construction on the $5.6-billion project is scheduled for completion in 2010. BA Energy’s Alberta Heartland upgrader also saw a construction start in 2007. Phase 1 has an estimated cost of $1.1 billion, according to the provincial government. It is being built northwest of Bruderheim, with completion scheduled for 2008.

As is the case with so many oilsands projects, other phases of the Heartland upgrader to be built stretch well into the future. Phase 1 should see the start of operations in 2008. According to the company’s website, this will produce about 77,000 barrels of upgraded oil per day. But, by 2013, when a projected third phase should be complete, production is supposed to hit more than 200,000 barrels per day.

BA Energy does not include the cost of all three phases, perhaps because a meaningful estimate of the actual cost would be hard to arrive at. The completion year, 2013, is five years away and the inflation rate in the province’s construction sector as a whole has been oscillating between and one and two per cent per month since late 2005.

Big projects ahead

There are several upgrader projects that could help put the Edmonton area on par with Fort McMurray for oilsands construction….

Today’s spending levels are in sharp contrast to those of even four or five years ago. Statistics Canada figures from 2002 to 2004 show spending on oilsands projects at $6.9 billion, $5.2 billion and $6.3 billion, respectively. Capital expenditures on oilsands projects jumped to $9.9 billion in 2005 and then to $11.6 billion in 2006.

In 1997, before the current rush for oilsands development got underway, capital spending was $1.7 billion. That was when there was no major new project under construction. The reason for such an outlay, despite no major new project, stems from the fact that large heavy oil production facilities require “huge volumes of sustaining capital,” says Herb Holmes, Edmonton manager for Construction Labour Relations….

A crunch is coming, and many observers believe it’s likely to hit in either 2009 or 2010. Averaged out, CAPP’s figure of $48 billion for 2009–2010 means $24 billion per year spent on oilsands development. Given how stretched resources are already, industry watchers are saying that the capacity is simply not there.

“Unless something radical happens, it’s impossible for the work to be done on schedule,” Holmes says. “By radical, I mean for example a huge influx of workers. Also needed would be tools, machining equipment, engineers. We are seeing shortages now and we are not yet at the peak.”….

It seems that Alberta’s industrial construction is almost all about energy. Vegreville could be the site of a $400-million ethanol plant that will convert straw into biofuel. The project, however, is not in the bag yet. Ottawa-based Iogen Corp. is also considering sites in Idaho and Saskatchewan for the facility.

Besides oilsands projects, other energy sectors are also facing challenges to get their projects off the ground. There are more than half a dozen wind power projects waiting in the wings, all in southern Alberta….(Full Story)

Posted in Community & Industry, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

November 8, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

Eastman, 2007 11 08

Eastman Proposes to Invest $200 Million in Equipment to Reduce Air Emissions

Company’s Effort is Part of $1.3 Billion “Project Reinvest” Announced Earlier this Year

KINGSPORT, Tenn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Eastman Chemical Company has proposed to install additional air pollution control equipment on five industrial boilers at its Tennessee operations in Kingsport, Tenn. The company is in the process of selecting an engineering firm and construction should take place during 2009 to 2013. The $200 million capital project is part of the $1.3 billion dollar reinvestment plan, called “Project Reinvest” announced earlier this year for the Kingsport site….

“This will be the largest single air pollution control project ever undertaken at Eastman’s Tennessee operations,” said Parker Smith, vice president and general manager of Worldwide Manufacturing Support for Eastman. “We estimate an overall 60 percent reduction in emissions of sulfur dioxide from our facility. We are hopeful this project will not only assist Tennessee in meeting its regional haze goals under the Clean Air Act, but will also help our area here in Northeast Tennessee stay ‘ahead of the curve’ and remain in attainment of all relevant air quality standards.

Eastman’s plans are to install technology that will remove an estimated 90 percent of the sulfur dioxide emitted as a by-product from the burning of coal in the five boilers. The technology includes installing spray dryer absorbers, along with replacing electrostatic precipitators with fabric filters. Spray dryer absorbers use hydrated lime to neutralize sulfur dioxide emissions. They are also effective in removing emissions of hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, sulfuric acid, and mercury…. (Full Story)

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Note by folc.ca: What will they do with all of that polluted gypsum that they will produce when neutralizing their emissions? Oh well, it’s better than putting all of the SO2 and the other pollutants into the air.

Posted in Heavy-Metal Poisoning & Pollution, Nitrogen-Oxides, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Hydrogen-Sulphide, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »

September 10, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

Gulf Daily News

MANAMA [Bahrain]: A senior Bapco official [acting chief executive Abdulkarim Al Sayed] has praised the firm’s staff for their teamwork on efforts in the firm’s Low Sulphur Fuel Oil (LSFO) activities….

The visit coincided with attainment of the peak activities of maintenance work, 2HDU revamp and tie-ins for the Refinery Gas Desulphurisation Project….(Full Story)
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Note by folc.ca: Bahrain presently does not permit storing of sulphur in blocks. That means that the waste-sulphur produced at the Babco refinery at Manama must be sold into the glutted world market.

Posted in World Sulphur Glut, Sulphur Logistics, Ultra-Low-Sulphur Diesel, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

September 10, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

Detroit Free Press

Marathon would spend $2 million to install stations

Marathon Petroleum Co. expects to spend $2 million to install air quality monitoring stations that would warn residents near its southwest Detroit refinery of environmental problems.

The monitors are part of Marathon’s three-year, $1-billion plan to increase refinery production in Detroit by 15%….

“We’re spending more than $300 million for pollution controls at the Detroit refinery,” said James Wilkins, manager of the Refining Environmental & Safety division.

The Marathon expansion holds the promise of 800 construction jobs starting early next year through 2010. The project also could help stabilize fuel prices for Michigan motorists by adding about 630,000 gallons of gas a day to the market.

Marathon’s plan for growth calls for the use of so-called heavy crude oil that comes from Canada’s tar sands, primarily in northern Alberta. Unlike the light-sweet crude from Saudi Arabia and other places, heavy crude has a higher sulfur content [emphasis by folc.ca] and is more difficult to process cleanly…. (Full Story)
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Note by folc.ca: The U.S. presently does not permit storing of sulphur in blocks. That means that the waste-sulphur produced at Marathon’s Michigan refinery will most likely result in reduced U.S. import volumes of Canadian waste-sulphur. Not only that, but some of the waste-sulphur produced by Marathon will result in competition for sales of Canadian waste-sulphur in a glutted world market.

Posted in Community & Industry, Emission Incidents & Issues, World Sulphur Glut, Sulphur Logistics, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

September 10, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

The Sofia Echo

CLEAN COAL REPROCESSING [SO₂ removal]

At a September 3 news conference, Enel executive director Enrico Viale said that by spring 2008 Ener Maritsa Iztok 3 coal-fired thermal power plant (TPP) will be the only station in the Balkans to have entirely installed sulphur-cleaning equipment….(Full Story)
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Related stories:

• Sulphur Dioxide Poisons Bulgarian Village of Galabovo
• Sulphur Dioxide Poisons Bulgarian Village
• Enel Defends Position over Sulphur Dioxide Pollution in Bulgarian Village

Posted in Community & Industry, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »