Ministry Of Environment Waits for Report

Wednesday, August 09, 2006 04:18 PM

The Rustand Sawmill sign in the foreground, and the stack from Marsulex Chemical Plant in the background, illustrates closeness of these industrial neighbours

The Provincial Ministry of the Environment is waiting for the incident report from Marsulex Inc, the company in the Prince George BCR Industrial site which had a sulphur dioxide "incident" this morning.

Just after 11:00, the chemical company on Industrial Way, was restarting its machinery following a brief maintenance shut down. When the equipment fired up, a plume of sulphur dioxide was released, and the wind carried the emissions to the Rustad Sawmill plant.

19 Rustad employees were treated for eye and skin irritation caused by the exposure to the sulphur dioxide.

The Ministry of the Environment's Maureen Bilawchuk is the Section Head of the Business Unit of Environmental Protection Unit for Omineca-Peace Region. She says Marsulex has 30 days to file an incident report which includes a summary of the incident, and what corrective action has been taken. The company though says it will have that report to her long before the 30 days are up.

Bilawchuk says under Marsulex's permit, the company is allowed to discharge a certain amount of sulphur dioxide, but she did not have the information to say if that allowable daily average maximum had been exceeded.

Bilawchuk says to her knowledge, this is the first time something like this has happened at the chemical plant, but that when the call came in this morning, all the authorities were alerted including the Provincial Emergency Preparedness Program, and Workers Compensation.

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Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 04:18 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: active on August 9 2006 9:24 PM

This is really scary.
How many more such incidents shall Prince George endure before BC Ministry of Environment & City of Prince George Council act and say enough is enough!!! It is time to take meaningful steps toward bringing about healthy air for our citizens!!! What does it take?

Posted by: owl on August 9 2006 9:31 PM

What it takes for many is an incident in which people die instead of just going to the hospital for a short while to make sure everything is okay.

I don't know if anyone on here saw the local news at 5pm. The statement was made that this was likely a normal start up when more SO2 is emitted since the temperature has not reached normal operating level. The blame was more on the wind direction which took the SO2 to the Rustad Mill.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on August 10 2006 6:27 AM

The workers at Marslex should be fired, that will fix the problem.

If it doesn't, at least it will make "active" happy to see action! Off with their heads! Hee hee!

Posted by: Jimmi on August 10 2006 9:58 AM

The question that needs to be asked is how a cloud of poison gas got to the sawmill and what Marsulex did before the discharge in order to check wind conditions. Or, where does the gas actually go during a "normal" start up?

Posted by: QuasiMe on August 10 2006 10:57 AM

I can't believe this type of discharge is permitted. Regardless of having a permit or not, you'd think that the amount of allowable discharge would be restricted to a level that in the event of unfavourable conditions, accident, etc. it would not pose harm to anyone. Also, we're only seeing what can happen by way of immediate effects... what are the long-term effects to us in the community and is our ongoing exposure something to be concerned about.

I want answers. Real answers, not just another study to be commissioned while waiting for public interest to die off.

Posted by: owl on August 12 2006 2:42 PM

QuasiMe .... you are asking the MoE to rationalize the way you do about these things?

This has been an issue in the USA for some time since they adopted the Clean Air Act. The Act exempts plants at time of start-up and equipment breakdown.

Read this and you can see why the MoE thinks the way it does.

http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/006/new-epa-rule-gives-refineries-chemical-plants-free-pass-for-toxic-air-pollution.html

The USA typically has led the way in environmental legislation. If they still have not dealt with this matter, do not expect the locals to deal with it.