Nearly a month after an incident at Burnaby’s Parkland refinery caused a foul stench to waft across Metro Vancouver, the company that operates it is holding an open house for residents.
The incident happened Jan. 21, as crews were working to restart the facility after a shutdown due to unseasonably cold temperatures.
It prompted Metro Vancouver to issue an air quality bulletin across its northwest and northeast regions, and the deployment of Burnaby firefighters who spent six hours on standby outside the facility.
In the wake of the incident, Parkland faced criticism from some residents and Burnaby’s mayor and council for what they said was a lack of transparency about the incident.
On Tuesday, Parkland Refinery plant manager Alex Coles said the company has learned from the experience.
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“We are a learning organization, and one of the things we have learned from this process is we can do better about getting out in front of the community, and tonight’s event is really part of the recognition of that,” Coles said, pledging more proactive communication with neighbours.
Tuesday’s community information session is being held at 5:30 p.m. at the Executive Suites Hotel and Conference Centre.
Coles said experts will be on hand to help explain what the Parkland refinery does, what steps it is taking to restart the facility, what went wrong on Jan. 21, and to answer any questions.
Coles added that the Jan. 21 incident was the result of a “plugged line” during the restart process that ultimately led to the unplanned release of emissions.
“The plume was comprised of steam, byproducts of combustion, as well as particulate,” he said. “At no time during the event were the air quality standards exceeded.”
The company is currently conducting an internal investigation into what went wrong, he said, the results of which will be made public.
In January, Burnaby city council passed a motion calling for provincial regulators to conduct an independent investigation into the incident.
The city is also seeking to recoup about $30,000 from Parkland to cover the cost of police and firefighters’ response on Jan. 21.
At the end of January, Parkland said the facility would be shut down for about four weeks for maintenance. On Tuesday it said that work was continuing as scheduled.
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