Peace River landowners target Redford

Concerns about bitumen vapours, health aired at public inquiry

PEACE R IVER — Residents worried about health effects of bitumen emissions directed their frustration at Premier Alison Redford’s government during a public inquiry here Tuesday.

While Redford “is running around the world telling people there are few environmental impacts with oilsand development,” as she looks for new markets, some people in the Peace Country are forced to abandon their homes, Carmen Langer told the hearing.

“She doesn’t understand the pain and suffering of the people of Sunrise County.”

“As a young man, the oilsands was a blessing but it has ended up as a curse.”

He abandoned his cattle farm due to health troubles from what he said are emissions from heated bitumen tanks run by Baytex Energy of Calgary.

Langer himself worked in the oilsands for years before taking over the family farm, which is now abandoned.

The Alberta Energy Regulator called the public inquiry after a group of families south of Peace River left their farms. They said that emissions coming off heated bitumen tanks were causing health problems, including headaches, dizziness, cognitive impairment — symptoms that went away when they moved away.

Oilsand operators auger the sand and oil out of the ground and heat the mixture in tall storage tanks on the surface. Residents want vapours from those tanks contained rather than vented into the air.

Langer, Diane Plowman and Doug Dallyn from Three Creeks described an emission incident about 2 a.m. Monday that caused them to feel ill.

The AER asked all five companies in the area to investigate and they found no problem by 2 p.m., according to official reports.

But Dallyn noted that the air monitoring equipment in his yard was triggered that night, when bitumen emissions were about what he described as four times the background level.

The inquiry has heard that the AER does not measure those emissions from the tanks.

Plowman said residents are looking for “win-win” outcome for industry, government and residents from the hearing but it must include better enforcement by the regulator who relies on industry checking up on itself.

“We hear everyone is compliant but we still have the health effects, so is that good enough?” Plowman asked.