Where’s the 100% industry-funded AER?
Oh, right, busy deregulating to enable industry increasing their poisons in the air we need to breath.
Is Secure Energy as notorious as Tervita? Or is frac waste too dangerous to deal with?
2015: Fire at Secure Energy Services south of Grande Prairie
… Grande Prairie RCMP has confirmed that workers at the well site were transferring frac water into a tank when it exploded at 10:45 this morning. No injuries have been reported, and employees were evacuated as the Grovedale Fire Department responded. The fire has since been contained, and it has been deemed not criminal in nature. 
More on industry’s regular criminality below. Along with the AER, Occupational Health and Safety has also been contacted. Emergency services are currently responding to reports of a fire in a water receiving tank at the Secure Energy Services facility on Highway 40, 29 kilometres south of Grande Prairie. Manager Stan Moodie says traffic was tied up briefly, but both lanes should now be open. He adds that there is no concern for public safety. The Alberta Energy Regulator has been notified, and is monitoring the situation.
Photos above from Lakeland Connect
Update: Explosion outside of Elk Point; HWY 640 closed by Jena Colbourne with files from Arthur C. Green, October 23, 2021, Lakeland Connect
On October 23, at approximately 2:35 p.m., members of the RCMP from the Two Hills, Elk Point and Vermilion Detachments, along with a number of Emergency Services Personnel from a number of regional fire departments and paramedics responded to an industrial explosion and fire at a crude oil tank farm north of highway 640 in Two Hills County.
An update was issued at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday.
“The fire is contained to the site at this time, and there are no reports of casualties,” the RCMP stated. “No residences are under threat from the fire. But obviously, as evidenced by the photos, residents and wildlife near and far are under threat from the fumes. Clever deceptive wording by the RCMP. Currently highway 640 is blocked both East and West to allow emergency personnel and equipment access to the scene, and travel is not recommended on Range Roads 62 and 63, or Township Road 554, to the north of the fire site due to poor visibility cause by smoke.”
At this time the cause of the fire is not believed to be criminal in nature, however the investigation into the cause will continue.
Emergency crews are on site at an active fire at an oil waste recycling facility outside of Elk Point on Highway 640 and Highway 41. Emergency crews have secured the site and closed the roads. Motorists are asked to find alternative routes.
The fire is believed to be caused by an explosion. Residents of Elk Point and surrounding areas are reporting that they heard a loud boom and then vibrations.
The site is home to Secure Energy, which recently merged with Newalta Tervita.
According to the the company’s website, they are a leading provider of innovative engineered environmental solutions that enable customers to reduce disposal, enhance recycling and recover valuable resources from oil and gas exploration and production waste streams.
It is unclear at this time what caused the explosion, however it is not believed to be criminal in nature. The oil and gas industry is often “criminal in nature.” It breaks the law with impunity, harms public health, sickens and kills workers, fracs and depletes drinking water aquifers and surface waters, lies incessantly including to investors, invades and pollutes communities and farms, refuses to clean up, refuses to pay taxes and rent, works to control our police and make them work for industry instead of the public that pays for the police, propagandizes kids in schools – the younger the better, etc.
At this time, there are no injuries reported and no residences or properties are at threat from the fire.
Lakeland Connect will update as this story develops.
Industrial explosion left fire crews battling blaze at crude oil tank farm northeast of Edmonton by Chris Chacon, Oct 24, 2021 (evening), Global News
It took a great deal of effort to control a fire at a crude oil tank farm northeast of Edmonton. Chris Chacon has more on the industrial explosion that rattled a rural area.
An industrial explosion at a crude oil tank farm took place Saturday afternoon at SECURE Energy’s Elk Point facility northeast of Edmonton.
“Talking to some of the local people, they heard the percussion. Some of them felt the percussion when it happened,” Two Hills County Reeve Don Gulayec said.
Gulayec said more than 35 firefighters from several departments along with RCMP and EMS initially responded.
The county also cut off the natural gas and electricity to the site.
“Basically, you’re dealing with a tank farm that holds hydrocarbon material, and they are all on fire. It’s huge. The thing is you don’t know what the potential for an explosion or things like that are,” Gulayec said. Story continues below advertisement
Gulayec said experts in industrial explosions were brought in to suppress and control the fire. The Alberta Energy Regulator and an agency to monitor the air quality were also on site. Phew, AER on site. What a miracle. Is the “agency” Tervita? As a precaution, people living nearby were evacuated from their homes.
“There were no fatalities. Some people were hurt from what I gather, but the extent of their injuries is unknown at this time,” Gulayec said.
In a statement to Global News, Secure Energy said: “At appropriately 2:35 p.m. MST on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, a fire started at SECURE Energy’s Elk Point facility. Our emergency response plan was immediately initiated, which included contacting local emergency authorities.”
“All employees are safe and accounted for. The fire is out, and we are working with all appropriate authorities to investigate the cause. The safety of our employees, the public and the environment remain our top priority.”
Gulayec said in the end, he is proud of the many men and women who volunteered to help battle this blaze.
“It was a big fire for our area,” Gulayec said.
RCMP respond to explosion, fire at east central Alberta crude oil tank farm, No reports of casualties and the fire is contained to the site, police said Saturday by CBC News, Oct 23, 2021
Investigators in east central Alberta are looking into an explosion and fire that broke out at a petroleum tank farm Saturday.
RCMP from the Two Hills, Elk Point and Vermilion detachments along with emergency services personnel from regional fire departments How poisonous are the fumes? Any H2S? Were personnel wearing full protective gear? Was emergency response funded by taxpayers, as usual, or will the polluter be invoiced or better yet, offer to pay? Will health impacts to emergency personnel, area residents, workers and radioactivity be monitored? Of course not – this is the often “criminal in nature” oil and gas industry. responded to an industrial explosion and fire at a crude oil tank farm north of highway 640 in Two Hills County, Alta., at about 2:35 p.m., police said in a news release.
There are no reports of casualties and the fire is contained to the site, police said Saturday evening.
“At this time the cause of the fire is not believed to be criminal in nature, however the investigation into the cause will continue,” police said.
Smoke has caused poor visibility on roads north of the fire site, police said, advising motorists to avoid Range Roads 62, 63, and Township Road 554.
Highway 640 was blocked both east and west to allow emergency personnel and equipment access to the scene.
Two Hills County is located about 150 kilometres north east of Edmonton.
Refer also to:
November 2012 – EnCana’s drilling waste dumped on food land at Rosebud
January 17, 2013, Bob Curran, Public Affairs Section Leader, ERCB, on GlobalTV:
“We evolve the regulations on an ongoing basis to ensure that they’re protective of groundwater and public safety and that waste is disposed of properly as well.”
April 19, 2011, Darin Barter, ERCB spokesman, to the Peace River Record Gazette:
The ERCB does not test drilling waste before it is deposited on fields, said Barter, nor will it inspect deposits unless contacted by the landowner, as staff is limited, and the practice is common. “It is the company’s responsibility to follow the rules. We can’t be there in every location throughout the province every time something is done”
2007, Darin Barter, ERCB spokesman:
“If they are not following our regulations, we should be involved in it.”
But most of the time, Canada’s regulators are no where to be seen, intentionally absent so that companies can keep breaking the law and polluting as they like.
The report also found that a variety of products — including hazardous materials and lubricants — had been discarded or abandoned “with no apparent concern for the environment.”
“A lack of responsibility and supervision are evident at other sites, wherein examples of poor industry practices and lackadaisical housekeeping abound”
2007: Oil firms ‘negligent’ at Suffield, Wildlife areas damaged by industry: report
2007: Suffield Files Reveal Disturbing Story of Environmental Degradation, Non-compliance by Energy Companies and Industry Giant EnCana
2006 CAPP’s Best Management [Voluntary] Practices for NGC/CBM:After I went public with this document, CAPP pulled it from public access, so I uploaded it here.
“Drilling fluids are transported, stored and handled in tanks. Typically, drilling fluid waste will be transported off-site for re-use and treatment/disposal…. Some additives may be caustic, toxic, or acidic.”
2003: Alberta Landspraying While Drilling (LWD) ReviewbyAlberta Sustainable Resource Development, released three years later, only after FOIP and public pressure.
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