Parkland outlines factors behind Burnaby, B.C., refinery emission

The company that owns and operates a gasoline and diesel producing refinery in Burnaby, B.C., says an internal investigation into an "emissions event" that spread a stench across Metro Vancouver in January will allow it to improve how it guards equipment against extreme cold and how it shares information with community members.

The report from Parkland, published in late August, was released seven months after an equipment malfunction during a restart of activities at the refinery following temperatures as low as –13 C.

The malfunction resulted in a burning, acrid, smoky smell that spread across the region and led to concern and criticism from local residents over what they were being exposed to, and if the response and communication from Parkland was appropriate.

"We are sharing these findings to maintain transparency and reinforce our commitment to operational excellence," said Parkland in the introduction to the report.

The 10-page report blames the refinery's troubles in January on an unusually cold spell of weather for the region, which "created previously unseen instrumentation issues."

The report also chronicles residents' complaints, including not being told for hours about what was happening at the refinery, and whether the smell was dangerous.

Stack plume changed colour

The bulk of the report provides a timeline of what happened, but despite specific technical terms and detail, it does not expand much beyond what has been known for months: a blocked pipe from the cold resulted in the refinery emission, which involved the burning of hydrocarbons.

The report said workers at the refinery began smelling strong odours about 7:20 a.m. PT on Jan. 21.

"While investigating, they heard a loud pop at 7:26 a.m. and saw the stack plume change from white-grey to green-black," said the report.

At 8:02 a.m. unburned hydrocarbons reached a stack at the refinery and "intermittently ignited until 8:16 a.m," it added.

The Burnaby Fire Department was notified by 8:10 a.m. By 9 a.m. monitoring of the site was established.

"Public advisories were issued around 11 a.m.," said the report, which calls for the company to improve its incident response guide and communication.

"Operational events must be viewed with a broader stakeholder lens, including regulatory and reporting obligations and actual and potential community impacts," reads the report.

Regional district, WorkSafeBC still investigating

Metro Vancouver Regional District, which monitors air quality in the region, is not commenting on the report as it's currently conducting its own investigation into the event.

At the time of the incident, Metro Vancouver issued an air quality bulletin about the emission but later found it did not breach pollution standards.

The City of Burnaby said in a statement that it's "pleased to see that Parkland is taking steps to address the circumstances which caused the release of emissions and to improve the communications channels both with the public and stakeholders.

"We look forward to seeing these recommendations put into action."

Freedom of information (FOI) requests made by CBC News for city documents revealed that Parkland had out-of-date contact information for the Burnaby Fire Department, the city and Fraser Health.

A similar FOI request made to Metro Vancouver revealed that the regional district questioned how Parkland planned to use a third-party company to do ambient air-quality monitoring after the event.

Metro Vancouver said its concerns were resolved, but they initially involved whether the instruments being used had low enough detection limits, and whether handheld instruments were preferable to a monitoring station.

WorkSafeBC, the province's workplace safety agency, is continuing to investigate after nine refinery workers sought medical attention for injuries related to the Jan. 21 incident.

Parkland requested, and was granted, an extension for submitting a full incident report to the agency for its investigation from an original deadline of Feb. 20 to mid-March.

CBC News has asked WorkSafeBC for an update over when its final report into the incident would be published.

Parkland is not commenting further on its report. It said following the event, the company established new communication channels, including over social social media, through mail drops, and community information sessions. 

"It is crucial to highlight that despite the challenges, the Burnaby refinery team took all appropriate actions to safeguard the community and maintain safety standards," says the Parkland report.

"Our commitment to continuous improvement and safety remains paramount as we move forward."