To My Fellow Burnaby Resident,
I wanted to update you regarding the incident Sunday morning (January 21) at the Parkland Refinery that resulted in the release of odorous gas, as I know this caused significant anxiety for many residents.
Now that we’ve been able to collect more information, I can give you a fuller explanation of what happened at the refinery, and our response as a City.
The incident
The piece of equipment at the refinery where the incident occurred is called a Fluid Catalytic Cracker (FCC) unit. Under normal conditions, this unit heats the materials to a high temperature, creating a reaction. This reaction separates the hydrocarbon product into the various desired components. Usually, this is an efficient process that produces emissions within permit limits.
However, when the unit malfunctioned on Sunday, the temperature in the unit dropped and failed to burn off some components. As a result, burnt sulphur (primarily sulphur dioxide) and other air contaminants were released into the air, resulting in odour that smelled awful.
The City’s response
Burnaby Fire Department crews were called to the refinery to assist Parkland crews in responding to the incident with the FCC unit just after 8 a.m. on Sunday.
Our response was rapid and robust. There were more than 34 Burnaby firefighters onsite and 8 operational trucks, all positioned between the facility and the community. Our crews quickly determined that the situation was under control and there was no fire risk to the community.
As an added precaution, our crews set up portable air quality monitoring to ensure the safety of the adjacent neighbourhood. At no time did these monitors indicate a risk to residents.
Metro Vancouver is the agency responsible for air quality monitoring in our region. While air contaminants that Metro Vancouver measures, including particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide, did not exceed ambient air quality objectives, there may have been other contaminants Metro’s monitoring stations were not able to measure.
City communications to residents
One thing I have heard from our community since Sunday is that residents would like to receive earlier notification about incidents such as the one that occurred at Parkland, even if it is just to say that everything is okay.
To that end, we are reviewing our notification process. For emergencies where there is imminent danger and residents must take action, the City uses an emergency notification system called Alertable. We are exploring using this system (as a complement to our other communication channels, such as the City’s social media accounts) for advisory purposes when the event is high profile but there is no threat to health or safety. I encourage you to sign up for Alertable today at Burnaby.ca/Alertable to receive notifications on your cellphone, home phone or email.
What’s happening now
Production at the refinery has stopped while Parkland conducts its annual maintenance for the next few weeks. Parkland has been working with Metro Vancouver on a plan to bring the damaged FCC unit back into operation, which this week includes burning off hydrocarbon product that had solidified.
We are told this may create some increased odour, flaring, and visible smoke over the next few days. Metro Vancouver will continue to monitor air quality during this time. Metro Vancouver has also positioned a mobile air monitoring unit near the refinery.
As the regulator of air emissions for the region, Metro Vancouver is assessing Parkland’s compliance with their air quality permit and considering compliance and enforcement options. Refinery operations are complicated, and this will take time.
If you experience dust or odour during Parkland Burnaby Refinery’s upcoming work, you can report this to Metro Vancouver at 604-436-6777. You can also get more information about Parkland Refinery’s work from their website at burnabyrefinery.ca.
Metro Vancouver has issued air quality bulletins, which can be found online at: https://metrovancouver.org/media-room/media-releases.
I hope you have found this letter helpful.
At the City, your safety is vitally important to us.
Sincerely,
Mike Hurley
MAYOR