RII North America held an open house Tuesday night to inform people about its experimental Solvent Thermal Resource Innovations Process (STRIP) pilot project, for which it filed an application with the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) last month. While some were pleased with what they saw and heard, some residents left the open house still concerned.
The first time it would ever be implemented, STRIP generates steam within the reservoir through down-hole combustion of methane and oxygen in the presence of produced water. It is considered to be efficient because of this steam creation method.
The project would be located on Devon's Manatokan Iron River oilsands lease, and would have one incinerator on each of the two pads to burn off produced toxins. Manned 24 hours a day, its peak production capacity would be 640 cubic metres/day.
After the meeting, RII was unable to accommodate a phone interview with the Nouvelle and provided e-mailed responses to questions. All RII comments are from these e-mail responses unless otherwise indicated.
“We have developed a production well re-completion design that we believe provides adequate safeguards against any problems,” said Jeffrey Schneider of RII corporate finance and strategy, when asked for proof to guarantee there will not be a leak.
“As a concept, the reservoir simulations we have completed suggest hot fluids will be produced in the production wells offsetting the single STRIP injection well.”
He said the existing wells were installed with thermal cement many years ago, but that additional safeguards may be needed. He said a third party specialist will confirm the well completion plan the company proceeds with.
RII has an agreement with Devon for this project in which it provides the technology, while Devon provides the wells and reservoir.
“Liability will depend on the nature of the operating agreement which is still being discussed between RII NA and Devon,” explained Schneider. “Generally speaking, both parties would be liable in the event of a catastrophe unless one of the parties has acted in way that could be considered as ‘gross negligence.'”
Alan Tkachuk and his family live half a mile east of one of the proposed sites. He feels he has no choice but to move if the project is approved and won't risk his 12-year-old daughter's health. His property is down wind of the incinerators.
“These guys can't guarantee that this stuff isn't going to come floating into my yard,” said Lenore Picray, who also lives by the proposed site.
Picray is concerned for her four children, and said if the project is approved, she will worry when they play out in the yard.
“Is there H2S, is there carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide that's going to be coming off of this stuff? They explained to me that it's all going to be burnt off in their incinerators, but what if those fail?... There's lots of variables, there's lots of what ifs.”
“We will be using state-of-the-art incineration technology to ensure complete combustion of any and all toxins created during project operations,” said Schneider.
He said all tests have been conducted to ensure STRIP is full proof, effective and safe, and that lab tests have been done to simulate the process in this specific area to understand what chemicals or by-products are produced.
At the meeting, RII's director of engineering Lynn Tessier said there is no heat in the injection well, as it is limited to the reservoir producing zone, and therefore there is no potential for arsenic liberation. He also said to fracture the cap rock, which is above the oil zone, would take 12 mpa, but the project equipment's maximum pressure is 6 mpa.
“It's unfathomable what is happening to us,” said Picray. “They're asking to jeopardize every angle of our life.”
She says she will no longer enjoy being outside, or walk the trail along Hook Lake that her family calls the Grandma Trail.
“That's where Grandma used to live and that's where we walk and that's our little treasure trail. I won't walk it anymore if this goes on. I won't go skating on that lake. I won't let my kids go out there.”
When asked if residents were justified in their concerns in living so close to an experimental project, Schneider responded: “I think that any time any kind of project is being proposed the residents within that area should have concerns and they should be asking questions. Proper diligence should be a cornerstone of any community just as it is within the Iron River area. However, I also believe it's important to be open-minded during this due diligence process so the right concerns are expressed... Residents need to be given the opportunity to accurately understand just what it is we are proposing before making any conclusions.”
He said the goal of the meeting was to educate residents on the company's proposal and in some cases they achieved this, while in others, they were not given the chance.
“I'm more confused and upset after this meeting,” said Picray, explaining how she was trying to understand all the technical terms. “I'm feeling apprehensive and I'm feeling pressure, fear.”
She said she wished the meeting was conducted in a town hall format so she could hear what other people were asking and their answers.
“They're thinking of questions that I didn't think of and vice versa.”
In response to concerns over the format of the meeting, the MD of Bonnyville's industry liaison, Denise Hourd, said generally Devon does not hold town hall-type meetings. She said the open house format avoids the potentially confrontational aspect of a town hall setting.
“That was their fear, when they came down, is that the fear-mongering was going to overtake the meeting and it kind of did, so it kind of backfired on them by not having it more town hall (style).”
Schneider said a town hall setting doesn't allow any scheduling flexibility, whereas a drop-in-style information session allows people to come and go as they please.
“I have always found a more personal one-on-one conversation to be much more productive,” he said. “This allows the stakeholder to ask all the questions he or she wants and prevents any individuals with personal agendas from restricting those with credible and genuine questions from getting the answers they deserve.”
Hourd said it would be the first of many meetings to come and that it would be most likely changed to a more town hall style.
However, Schneider said there are no future meetings planned as of now. He said the company is responding to questions from stakeholders raised at the meeting.
Hourd said her role is to ensure council is educated on the project, and will request council invite RII to give a presentation at a council meeting.
At this point, council is not taking a stance on the project and will watch to see what happens, she said, although she personally thinks “it's neat technology.”
She said if the ERCB approves the project, the MD would have to sit down with the company “to make sure it does not impact our infrastructure.”
Roads and traffic increase are other issues residents are concerned about.
Picray is worried about the narrow back roads trucks would use to transport highly flammable products, and where they might have to pass school buses. She said the traffic is already unacceptable.
When asked if widening the roads would be a solution, she said it would take away from people's land or grazing areas.
“I don't know what the answer is, but I just shudder.”
Schneider said, “If roads need to be upgraded to support the expected traffic we will work with the MD to ensure the safety of local residents as well as our operations personnel.”
He said the number of trucks travelling through would depend on the reservoir response from the STRIP implementation, but that a minimum of five trucks could be expected daily.
He said they would adhere to MD regulations including nighttime trucking guidelines. He said if approved, the company would immediately work to decrease traffic, likely by installing a pipeline.
But even if bitumen was sent out through a pipe, products would still need to be brought in, said Picray.
Unlike Tkachuk, she feels she can't give up her family's farm/ranch, and their 20 quarters of land.
“We can't move. We can't leave. No one's going to give us money for this land, especially with this kind of stuff going on.”
“Who's going to buy it (if) there's H2S here?” Tkachuk said. “The land values are going to drop bad.”
Tkachuk has worked on his land for 15 years, breaking the bush. It overlooks Hook Lake and has a forested area full of wildlife from a beaver's dam, an osprey's nest, eagles and deer. He calls his quarter “irreplaceable.”
He fears the animals will leave if toxins are burnt from the nearby incinerators. He also fears that Hook Lake, where five different farmers take their cattle to drink, could get contaminated as it feeds into other water bodies.
Schneider said RII will install 14 groundwater monitoring wells, seven per site, and will test all residential wells within the project proximity prior to operations.
“There are some other concerns regarding groundwater protection which we had identified prior to the information session and, if we determine these are credible concerns, it will have an effect on our proposed well re-completion design.”
He said the company has approached LICA for help with this, but needs to confirm the exact nature of these potential problems before explaining how risks will be managed and mitigated.
Tkachuk also builds log cabins in the forest on his property with his daughter and had hoped to start a junior forest ranger program some day.
“This (project) does not belong where the people are, period.”
But he said, he is “not leaving without a fight.”
