Latest well a learning experience
City has eyes set on future, says mayor
While the Tamarack Valley Energy hydro-fracking operation and its brightly-lit drilling tower has been removed from the wellsite just west of the Cottonwood Park boundary, local residents and officials are taking stock of what has happened and what needs to happen going forward when other energy companies seek drilling rights within city limits.
“When the issue was brought to our attention last weekend, we acted as quickly as we could,” said Mayor Chris Spearman, who called the experience a “learning process” for council, City staff and Lethbridge residents. “We have written a letter to the Minister of Energy expressing our concern, and we have appealed to the Alberta Energy Regulator (about the Tamarack site). The AER got back to us and said our statement of concern was too late so it wasn’t registered because it had already been approved, and all we have now is the ability to appeal based on the water rights. We are in the process of submitting a request for regulatory appeal. We would be concerned any water used in the operation of the well wouldn’t go back into the river and everything would be treated.”
Spearman acknowledged little could be done about this current drilling operation, but confirmed the City has its eyes set on the future.
“We will make sure there is public participation whenever an application is received,” stated Spearman, “and we will ensure there is a thorough, public process before any more drilling goes forward. We have to improve the communication process and learn from this experience.”
Besides Spearman, many Lethbridge residents welcomed the news of the departure of the Tamarack drill tower Friday as a further step toward more active public awareness of any potential future urban drilling in the area.
Dwight Jones, a spokesperson for the Lethbridge Astronomy Society, was relieved the tower was only up for a short time. He said the one thing a lot of residents didn’t think about is the short-term disturbances such towers generate. In this case, he said, the blazing lights of the Tamarack tower blotted out the one remaining good patch of dark sky left to observers and university researchers in the city.
“You can’t filter out the LED light anywhere else,” he complained, “and then this thing appears in the southwest sky blazing away, and it probably has LED lighting as well.”
On top of the overpowering lights, Ian Magill, who owns a home in Sunridge looking toward the drilling site, said the effects of the drilling and hydrofracking operation could be felt and heard over one kilometre away.
“When it went into operation, it was a loud, droning noise, and vibrations that could be heard (last weekend),” said Magill. “It started late at night (Friday), about 8 p.m., and it carried on until midafternoon on Saturday. Just about every resident on my street would have probably heard it or felt it, because there were vibrations that shook the house.”
Magill said he worries about what effects such vibrations might have on the geo-thermal pipes he has in his backyard, and on other underground lines found within the immediate area, if local drilling becomes more common.
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