The expansion of Custom Bulk Services' fracking sand loading facilities along Penhold's Fleming Avenue is encountering strong opposition from a determined group of residents who fear long-term health problems from the operation's handling of carcinogenic crystalline silica.
However, the company's owner, along with senior Town of Penhold officials, maintains the site complies with Alberta Environment regulation and will be a benefit to the community.
“The town is looking to balance the concerns of citizens with “positive industrial development” in town,” said Mayor Dennis Cooper of the town's support for the company's expansion.
Myles Monea, who has operated the company since 1997 at 920 Fleming Ave., is planning a further expansion down the street at 950 Fleming Ave. The 920 Fleming Ave. location underwent expansion in 2012.
The company off-loads fertilizer and fracking sand from trains along the spur line and stores the material until it can be trucked away to its end users.
The plans for the 950 Fleming Ave. site are to add two additional storage bins, a 106-foot tower, and an adjacent dustbin. Further to the south, at 920 Fleming Ave., eight more bins will be added with a conveyor belt with the same application. The cost of storing fracking sand in railcars is driving the expansion as it is considered less expensive to store sand in bins than railcars, which are required by other users throughout the rail system.
“There are a number of problems with the expansion,” said Kevin Small, a nearby resident. Small and other adjacent landowners were notified of the company's expansion plans at 950 Fleming Ave. by Penhold's planning and development department via a letter dated April 25.
“Traffic has increased since the 2012 expansion with as many as five or six semi trucks waiting on the street parked the wrong way,” said Small. “I know the town upgraded the road to take 20,000 kilos but some of those trucks must be in the 50,000-kilo range. Our biggest concern is the fact that carcinogenic fracking sand which contains crystalline silica is being loaded in our area.”
Cullen Wood, Small's neighbour, said he works at 6:30 a.m. and has seen lineups of trucks already waiting to be loaded.
“When the weather is good, they load sand from when I leave for work to 10 or 11 p.m. in the evening,” said Wood.
Meanwhile, Small has literally taken his fight to the avenue.
“I have gone up and down my street talking to my neighbours about what is going on here and the related health hazards,” said Small. “When I went to Penhold School and told principal Clark Peters about the facility he had not heard of the expansion.”
Small noted the elementary school is about 100 metres from the proposed facility, adding children walk to school right in front of his house, which is within 100 feet of the loading area.
“According to my research,” added Wood, “the state of California has set a ‘safe' level of crystalline silica to be three micrograms per cubic metre which has been adopted by several other states. Environment Alberta's standard is 25 micrograms per cubic metre and Environment Canada can only measure concentrations above 10 micrograms per cubic metre.”
Wood added he was not sure what the measured levels might be but the State of California notes dispersion rates for silica sand were rated in kilometres, not metres.
Rob Wood, who is Cullen's brother and lives in the same house on Fleming Avenue, also spoke to the dangers of silica dust, or “fugitive dust”, as it's also called. He said an American environmental advocate report identified health risks as silicosis, a serious and incurable lung condition that causes scarring in the lungs, breathing difficulty, coughing, and weakness, cancer, and sometimes death.
“As we cannot see the ‘fugitive' dust and it is a cumulative effect, symptoms may not be seen for 15 to 20 years,” he said. “If Penhold kids have been exposed for years already, we won't know what will happen to them.”
Oil industry requirements vary on safety regulations for fracking sand loading with product Manufacturer Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) identifying crystalline silica with ‘lung injury and cancer hazard' in bold print. The MSDS sheets also state, “Do not breathe dust. Do not rely on your sight to determine if dust is in the air. Silica may be in the air without a visible dust cloud.”
Wood said companies like 3M are “clear” in their health concerns regarding crystalline silica dust.
“Even Work Safe Alberta has released a bulletin (November, 2009) that identifies health risks of silica, recommending personal protective equipment for workers,” he noted. “I have to wonder if the truck loaders need protective gear like respiratory gear. What will we need to protect us who live across the street when wind blows the hidden dust? What about our children?”
The Town of Penhold held an open house in 2012 when Custom Bulk Services Inc. expanded its facility the first time with additional augers and storage bins.
“After our last open house on expansion of Mr. Monea's facility, several issues were brought forth,” said Cooper. “Residents raised the issue of noise and dust from the equipment which Monea went to great lengths to address.”
Cooper added Monea added noise suppression equipment and reduced equipment noise down to acceptable levels. In terms of silica dust, said Cooper, Monea installed vacuum equipment in the area which reduced dust pollution which ranged from 0.025 to 0.032 parts per million to significantly lower levels. Cooper conceded the town made the measurements.
“The expansion at 950 Fleming Ave. will have eight-foot high exterior fencing as well as a 27-foot high metal encased loading area equipped with vacuum cleaning system to reduce silica dust even further,” said Cooper, who insists the operation is safe. “The only thing he (Monea) has to do yet is to decrease the dust from vehicles entering and leaving the loading areas, which may be cemented.”
The mayor said Monea tried paving the entries last year but heavy vehicle traffic destroyed the coating layer, which quickly prompted a search for another solution.
“In terms of traffic control in the area,” said Cooper, “we are going to have our peace officers actively ticket trucks not obeying the Highway Traffic Act. Custom Bulk Services has tried to inform the drivers which routes are the correct ones to use, but if they do not listen, it is not Monea's fault.”
Monea said the dispatchers he works with are well aware of the public road to the east of his facility and warn the truckers about the proper truck route.
“I can control the area to the west of my facility, but not the east,” said Monea. “If a trucker is parked backwards or on the wrong street and the peace officer comes by and tickets him, it's his ticket, not mine. Having said that, I sympathize with the residents of the area who are disturbed by the noise of the vehicles who park and wait in the wrong area.”
Cooper said the expansion of the loading facility will benefit the community if every party follows environmental and traffic regulations.
“We try to be good corporate citizens,” added Monea. “When the town requested we work on the noise and dust issues, we went above and beyond what was expected and required to solve the problems. We feel we have done that. We know you can't get 100 per cent of the dust but we have to make it safe for my workers as well as the general public.”
A May 9 deadline was indicated for written objection to the proposed expansion of Custom Bulk Service's development application. The tentative public meeting date of May 14 was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts but a new date has yet to be announced.
