Plans for a $5 Million which will process oilfield waste to reclaim usable products were unveiled last week at an open house hosted by Newalta Corporation at Landonville Hall.
Construction of the facility, to be located 4.8 km east of Highway 41 along Secondary Highway 640, is slated for spring 1997 construction, with startup in the fall.
The facility will process oilfield-generated wastes such as produced sand, slop oils and oil spill material. These materials were previously trucked to Newalta’s plant at Hughenden for processing.
The plant will recover any residual oil that can be reclaimed, as well as washing the oily sand to produce sand which is usable in the construction industry and clay which can be used as fill material. The byproducts of these processes, water and silt, will be treated prior to disposal. The treated water will be sent to a deep disposal well on site and the silt to Newalta’s disposal cavern at Hughenden. The disposal well will be completed to provide optimum protection to fresh water aquifers and other hydrocarbon-bearing formations.
No hazardous industrial waste or commercial garbage will be handled at the site.
Newalta staff members were on hand at the open house to outline how the facility will work, and to display an artist's concept of how it will look. All liquid wastes will be contained in sealed tanks and vessels, and there will be no oily water ponds or pits of liquids. Dry solids for processing will be kept in concrete containment areas.
A covered area on the site will be used to hold clean, dry sand prior to delivery to the end user. This sand can be used in the making of cement and cement blocks, in building construction or on golf courses, according to Ken Quaife, Newalta’s southern region sales manager. Quaife explained that the plant will process waste which is “getting to be so much it looks like ski hills.”
A number of concerns with the facility were expressed by area residents, including how much noise, odor and traffic would be produced. With all processes taking place indoors and sealed tanks and the absence of outdoor lagoons, the first two are not expected to be a problem. Nor is the plant likely to impact local wildlife or watercourses.
Although Newalta spokesmen say there will bean increase of only one truck per hour, County of St. Paul reeve Ray Danyluk and Division 1 councillor Allan Young are concerned about traffic. Danyluk says he feels the facility will cause added traffic on the County’s oiled and gravelled roads, while not producing any tax revenue, since it is located in the County of Two Hills. Both he and Young would prefer to see it located closer to Elk Point, due to the tremendous amount of oil activity north of the Lindbergh area.
If this is indeed a problem, it won't be for long. Quaife says that another facility of the same type is slated for the Fort Kent LaCorey area in the near future.
