The Westway final environmental impact statement states that there will be little problem with air pollution, but it mentions that about 72,000 pounds/year of volatile organic carbon (VOC) molecules will be emitted during the unloading, storage and ship loading operations. This estimate is for handling crude oil from the Bakken formation in North Dakota. Bakken crude is produced by fracking the Bakken Shale Formation. Fracked wells lose capacity unless the fracking is regularly repeated, with experts estimating that pumping the Bakken wells may not remain economical in five or 10 years.
If the Westway crude oil terminal is built, the useful life of the project may be as long as 40 or 50 years. An investment in this facility will not be left to quietly rust away. The operators will, at some future time, use the facility for transporting Northern Alberta Tarsands crude. The characteristics of Tarsands oils are vastly different than that of Bakken crude, with much higher viscosity (low API gravity), high sulfur content, and high aromatic volatiles.
In order to ship Tarsands oil, it is necessary to reduce the viscosity using natural gas condensate diluents, making Diluted Bitumen, known as “dilbit.” If dilbit is allowed to cool below 120°F its viscosity rises to a point where it cannot be pumped economically. This characteristic also means that in order to transfer the dilbit from the tankcars to the storage tanks, and pump the dilbit from the storage tanks to the tanker vessels, the railcars, tanks and pipelines must be heated.
The railcars, pipelines, and storage tanks will need to be “steam-jacketed,” using steam produced by burning natural gas to heat water from the City of Aberdeen’s supply. The quantity of steam required will vary with the ambient temperature, but there is no mention in the FEIS of the water or natural gas quantities required. Note that the steam production will markedly increase the CO2 emissions from the project.
According to CBC news Technology and Science, May 26, 2016: “Alberta’s oilsands industry is one of the biggest sources in North America of harmful air pollutants called secondary organic aerosols (SOAs), a new Environment Canada study has found.”
SOAs are a source of particulate matter, and their pre-cursors are VOCs, which are already the greatest source of Criteria Air Pollutants (see final environmental impact statement Table 3.2-6 on p 3.2-11). The VOCs, along with H2S, are the odor producers, and the Tarsands oil smells much more than the Bakken crude. Remember, if they build it, the Tarsands oil with its smell will come, and our home values will drop from 15 to 30 percent, if we can find buyers.
Arnie Martin
Hoquiam
