| Compton Petroleum’s application to drill six sour gas wells right outside Calgary’s southeast city boundaries should be rejected by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) because the wells pose too much of a public safety risk, says a new report by Calgary engineering consulting company RWDI West Inc.
The Front Line Residents Group, a group of concerned citizens who live near the proposed site, commissioned the report, which evaluates the potential risks if a blowout occurred in one of the proposed sour gas wells and highly toxic hydrogen sulphide spewed into the atmosphere. Hydrogen sulphide can be lethal at high enough concentrations.
"RWDI believes that the levels of risk (both individual and societal) do not support the siting of the well at the (proposed) location," says the report.
Meanwhile, Compton Petroleum has asked for an adjournment of the EUB hearing into the proposal until late summer or early fall. EUB spokesperson Bob Curran says a decision on whether to allow the adjournment will be made within the next week.
Compton has applied to the EUB for a reduced emergency planning zone (EPZ) of four kilometres for the six sour gas wells. Without the reduction, the EPZ would encompass an area that includes 250,000 Calgarians in more than 40 communities. Compton says that the four kilometer EPZ will be safe because the company will immediately ignite any well that experiences a blowout, thereby ensuring public safety.
Igniting a sour gas well causes hydrogen sulphide to convert to sulphur dioxide, which is less dangerous. However, the RWDI report concludes that such a reduced EPZ would not be safe.
"RWDI believes that the use of a reduced four kilometers (EPZ) will not provide a protective basis for public safety planning during the drilling and servicing and completion of the Compton... wells," says the report.
Gavin Fitch, a lawyer representing the Frontline Resident’s Group, says the report will likely have an "enormous impact" at the March 30 EUB public hearing on the Compton well site applications.
Fitch says his clients are concerned about a potential blowout that could, in a worst-case scenario, kill people and also "the issue of long-term exposure to low level emissions or fugitive emissions."
Last Friday (March 5) the Calgary Health Region made a submission to the EUB opposing the Compton well sites as well.
"Our concern with the proposed sour gas well is, given the high concentration of hydrogen sulphide… in the event of an accidental release a large area could be impacted with concentrations that could cause serious injury and even death," says Brent Friesen, CHR medical officer of health.
Friesen says the CHR doesn’t consider a reduced emergency planning zone of four kilometers to be safe and, he adds that Compton hasn’t put together an adequate emergency response plan to address the health region’s concerns.
"I was disappointed. I’d hoped we’d be able to address outstanding issues before getting into a hearing… but unfortunately that was not the approach the company decided to take," says Friesen.
Politicians have also started weighing in on the subject. Alberta Liberal MLA Kevin Taft expressed his opposition to the proposal in the Alberta Legislature on March 3.
Calgary alderman Diane Colley-Urquhart has also stated she is concerned about the sour gas wells and has organized a public meeting on the subject on March 23 at 7 p.m. at the South Fish Creek Complex. |
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