BC Ombudsperson to Present to Council
Prince George, B.C. – While the Office of the BC Ombudsperson will be conducting a “mobile clinic” in Prince George today and tomorrow ( by appointment) the Ombudsperson will be making a presentation to Prince George City Council this evening.
Of the nearly 7,900 complaints filed with the Ombudspersons office during 2015/2016, about 10% of those complaints involved local governments. Ombudsperson Jay Chalke’s presentation indicates most of the local government complaints involve adequacy of infromtion (41%) followed by bylaw enforcement (24%).
Also on the agenda for this evening’s regular meeting of Council, is a presentation from CN Rail on safety. There has been growing concern over increased rail traffic heading to the Prince Rupert Port and the contents of the tankers that roll through the heart of Prince George. In the past, there have been requests for CN to advise the City of the type of dangerous goods passing through the community, and a recent report to Council indicated there are serious concerns about the threat to at least two of the City’s major wells should there be a derailment and spill just west of the CN yard in the downtown core.
The Prince Rupert Port Authority will also be making a presentation on its activities, as will AltaGas as it details its proposed propane shipping terminal for Ridley Island .
Council will hold a couple of informal hearings, one calling for support for extended hours of service at a new restaurant on 4th Avenue, another to permit oversized signage on the Northern Lights Estate Winery.
Formal hearings include a proposal for a small subdivision at East Austin Road and Dawson Road. That project requires a rezoning to allow the 5 lot subdivision to move forward.
Comments
oversized signage on the Northern Lights Estate Winery = shoe in
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It will be interesting to see what the CN has to say about the dangerous goods travelling through Prince George. Fact of the matter is there is very little dangerous goods that go West of Prince George. Most of the dangerous goods in this area go to the local pulp mills, refinery, and chemical plants. Prince George also produces more dangerous goods than any City in North Central BC. and ship these products to other destinations.
As far as dangerous goods West of Prince George I would say at this time there would be a little gasoline, diesel, and propane gas, that’s about it.
AltaGas is building an propane exporting terminal in Prince Rupert, and when this is up and running we will have approx. 50/60 rail cars of compressed propane travelling through Prince George on a daily basis. If this product was in a derailment the gas would dissipate into the atmosphere and would not be a threat to ground water.
The threat to ground water from CN Rail derailments in a tempest in a teapot. There is no threat.
Do I really think an oil spill in the Nechako is going to reach down 104 Feet to the bottom of the aquifer pipe? No.
But, there is a lot of product passing through Prince George that, should there be a spill, would harm fisheries from here to Stuart and Fraser Lake and beyond.
Oil wouldn’t but condensate would . It would go right through your skin .
Dissipate into the atmosphere, that is it? More like the escaping propane will form an explosive vapor cloud that can travel great distances looking for an ignition source. That is if the car did not get punctured by a rail and catch fire during the derailment. Contaminated ground water will be the least of everyones concerns if that happens.
Not so pal . All the condensate going to Edmonton comes from kitimat and the so called empties come back with lots left slouching around inside . Then there is the traffic for the Aquatrain ( barge ) , some of it much more dangerous than what you mention , destined for Alaska . Also all the propane , aviation fuel ( kerosene ), gasoline/ diesel rolls through pg for all the points west .
Firstly. Any dangerous goods that pass through Prince George also pass through McBride, Vanderhoof, Burns Lake, Smithers, Terrace, Rupert, etc; so if there was a need for a solution it would have to apply from Edmonton to Kitimat, to Rupert, and all points in between.
As I stated the majority of dangerous goods are consumed and produced in Prince George and very little goes West. Naturally we have Diesel, Gas, and Propane, and have been shipping these products by rail for 100 years, and we also truck them. This is not going to change any time soon.
As for condensate from Kitimat. My understanding is that condensate dissipates very quickly once exposed to air, so I don’t see it as being a risk to our water supply. I suspect it would float on water rather than penetrate it.
The Aquatrain from Prince Rupert to Whittier Alaska handles very little dangerous goods. Something like 200 rail cars a year of propane, and a few other rail cars and that’s about it.
Propane would be dangerous from a explosive point of view, however that is a different subject that ground water contamination. No doubt it will come up at the meeting to-night.
wow
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