Metro Vancouver residents could face another blast of foul odour on Thursday related to the region’s only major fuel refinery.
In a statement Wednesday, Parkland Corp. said it would be conducting a “controlled and necessary operational procedure” as the first step in work to restart its Burnaby refinery.
That update came hours after it said had temporarily shut fuel processing down at the facility, after pausing work during January’s cold snap, then running into a problem on Jan. 21 when it tried to restart.
That problem resulted in a foul stench that as smelled across the region and the deployment of firefighters to the facility to monitor the incident.
The company said Wednesday that its “procedure” would last multiple days, and that the public may notice “increased odour, flaring and visible smoke.”
Metro Vancouver has issued an air quality bulletin for the region’s northeast and northwest, and said it would be monitoring the refinery closely.
“Metro Vancouver is responsible for issuing air emissions permits within the region, and assessing whether our requirements and bylaws are being met,” it said.
“Environmental Regulation and Enforcement officers will continue to monitor and assess the air emissions and potential impacts of the refinery operation that is planned for the coming days.”
The regional district said people disturbed by refinery-related odour should move indoors, and close windows, doors and air intakes.
It said people with underlying medical conditions such as heart or lung disease may wish to reduce their outdoor physical activity.
Parkland Corp. said Wednesday it expects the refinery to remain shut down for approximately four weeks.
The company said it has increased imports of fuel into its on-site terminal in order to ensure reliability of fuel supply in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island.
-With files from the Canadian Press
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