ALBERTA ORDERS SUNCOR TO CUT DANGEROUS EMISSIONS
12.21.07 - Leído 51 veces. Enviar esta notaJeffrey Jones
The Alberta government said Tuesday it ordered Suncor Energy Inc to come up with a plan to cut emissions of deadly hydrogen sulfide at its oil sands operations after several reports of high concentrations this year
CALGARY, Alberta, Canada; December 21, 2007.- Suncor, which runs Canada’s second-largest oil sands development, said it will comply with the Environmental Protection Order and expects no impact on production levels as it takes steps to fix the problems.
The Environment Ministry said the company must audit incidents in 2007 when ground-level concentrations of the gas exceeded acceptable levels and develop a monitoring plan to identify sources of hydrogen sulfide by Jan. 14.
Then, Suncor must submit a modeling plan by Feb. 7 detailing likely buildups of the substance on and off the plant site and a “worst-case consequence analysis” for those locations, the ministry said in a statement.
The company attributed the problems to faulty emission control gear and increased releases from tailings ponds at the northern Alberta oil sands mining and synthetic crude processing site, which has output capacity of about 260,000 barrels a day.
Suncor said it is upgrading emission control equipment and addressing the tailings issue. It is also introducing processing changes and starting a more comprehensive air monitoring program, it said.
The gas, which has the odor of rotten eggs, can kill if inhaled in high enough concentrations.
In October, Suncor said it was stalling production growth at its Firebag thermal oil sands project while it complies with a government order to cut emissions at that site.
The ministry said Suncor must also submit monthly reports saying what steps it is taking to comply with the Environmental Protection Order.
(Reuters)
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