Oil field fumes so painful, Alberta families forced to move -- Vancouver Observer - Posted: Jan 26th, 2014 Severe headaches, dizziness, rashes and loss of memory: all symptoms reported to a new hearing examining health effects of Albertas rapidly expanding heavy oil industry NOTE: North Burnaby residents living near Kinder Morgans proposed Westridge Marine Terminal 5.5 million barrel tarsands diluted bitumen storage tank site, should be aware. Northwest Alberta grain farmer Alain Labrecque recalls the first winter in 2011 when the fumes from oil tanks near his home in the Peace River area seemed to trigger terrible health effects for himself, his wife and two small children. I started getting massive headaches. My eyes twitched. I got dizzy spells. I often felt like I was going to pass out. “Next thing I knew, my [3-year-old] girl had trouble walking. She had no balance. She would sit at the table, and she would just fall off her chair. My [4-year-old] son - he was really black under his eyes all the time, and had big time constipation.” “Then my wife fell down the stairs while carrying a laundry basket. “We want through a weird winter like that, Labrecque told the Vancouver Observer by phone Sunday. Labrecque, his family, and neighbours are part of a group of rural home owners now giving testimony to an unprecedented Alberta hearing, examining the health effects of the odour and emissions from bitumen extraction. About 75 people packed the conference centre, each day of the first week of proceedings. Homes abandoned due to oil fumes At least six families have abandoned their homes, citing health concerns from heavy oil emissions from the Reno field, about 500 km northwest of Edmonton. The hearing is also examining odour and emission concerns for the rapidly growing heavy oil industry in the wider Peace River area, which includes operators Shell Oil, Penn West, Murphy Oil, and Husky Oil. The Reno operation consists of 86 bitumen oil storage tanks, run by Calgary-based Baytex Energy. On Friday, Alain, his wife Karla, and Alains uncle gave emotional testimony to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) forum on how this field has torn their lives apart. The AER is an industry-funded oversight agency. A pad of four heavy oil tanks is just 500 metres from Labrecques home. Another 16 tanks are another 1,000 metres further. The tanks release a toxic, flammable and aromatic vapour that includes volatile organic compounds, benzene, toulene and sulfur, an engineer testified. The hearing revealed that Baytex did not initially install vapour recovery systems. In 2010, the facility and tank design in use at 4 Baytex sites did not capture emissions from tank tops, Baytexs Alberta and BC business unit VP Rick Ramsay admitted in his testimony. ... -- Mychaylo Prystupa vancouverobserver/environment/oil-field-fumes-so-painful-alberta-families-forced-move
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 19:14:12 +0000
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