EDMONTON – Leduc County residents are celebrating after council unanimously voted down an application to build a chemical facility many felt would be too close to home.
“We are ecstatic. we have worked very, very hard for the last five months to gather our information, everything that we could for this to be successful,” said area resident Lucille Low.
The 65,000 square-foot Halliburton multi-chem facility would have mixed and stored thousands of litres of oilfield chemicals.
Those who live near the proposed site voiced their fears about potential odours and vapours and the possibility of a spill. The concern that chemicals could seep into the area creek which runs into the North Saskatchewan River, was also raised, among other worries.
“There have been issues in the past from a number of chemical storage plants where explosions have happened, and so on and so forth,” Low said.
In an email, a spokesperson from the company wrote: “Halliburton is disappointed that the Leduc County Council did not approve our plans for the Multi-Chem blending facility. We are evaluating our options for the property and our plans for the facility.”
Leduc County Mayor John Whaley says it was “purely the wrong place for this kind of development.”
“If you want to build this type of facility,” added the residents’ lawyer, Joe Nagy, “build it somewhere near where there will be no residents.”
At this point, Halliburton isn’t revealing if it’s considering that or where the next proposed site will be.
With files from Laurel Gregory, Global News
Comments