More than six weeks after a problem caused the unexpected closure of the facility, Metro Vancouver‘s only refineryis getting ready to reactivate the facility.
On Jan. 21, Burnaby’s Parkland Refinery had a “plugged line” while the crews were trying to restart it after very cold weather, according to the operator. This caused emissions to be released, and some parts of the region experienced a bad smell.
On Friday, the company announced it would start the refinery again on Sunday, March 10 after a “thorough inspection.”
The restart process, according to Parkland, will take between one and two weeks, and there may be times when there are more flames and a chance of bad smells, noise, and smoke.
The company said it has added extra air quality monitoring, in addition to the existing equipment and Metro Vancouver’s monitoring system.
Last month, the company held an open house for Burnaby residents to explain the January incident and to address complaints that it had been too slow to provide information about what had gone wrong.
Parkland is conducting an internal investigation into the incident and has promised to make the results public.
However, it says at no time during the incident were air quality standards exceeded.
Burnaby City Council has asked for an independent investigation and has billed the company nearly $30,000 to cover police and firefighter deployment during the Jan. 21 incident.
