Burnaby tank farm disaster waiting to happen, says community group
Posted January 29, 2020 11:43 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BURNABY (NEWS 1130) — Burnaby residents are begging the government to improve safety at Kinder Morgan’s tank farm in the case of an earthquake.
Residents say the tank farm is a disaster waiting to happen. BROKE, Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion, says it plans to protest each Wednesday outside the tank farm until someone starts listening.
A member from the group, Karl Perrin, lives in UniverCity on top of Burnaby Mountain and says an earthquake could cause the tanks to collapse, warp, and spill.
“Because of the sloshing of the contents, the floating roof would spark against the sides of the tank creating a fire,” he explains, adding thousands of people would be trapped on the mountain. “There would be the potential for six hours of sulphur-dioxide burning through the neighbourhood.”
Perrin explains the response time would take hours because the proper equipment needs to come from Kamloops and says even 30 minutes of exposure is lethal. Perrin takes concern over the close proximity of Forest Grove Elementary School.
There isn’t a real evacuation route off the mountain, according to Perrin.
“We’re doing our best. The people up here at Simon Fraser are supposed to shelter in place for two to four days while the fire burns,” Perrin says. “There are only two routes down the mountain and those routes intersect right above the tank farm. That intersection would be closed because of the smoke from the tank farm fire would be so toxic.”
He says the City of Burnaby and the fire chief agree that something needs to change but Perrin argues the city is powerless in the situation. Burnaby’s fire department released a report in 2015 concluding the tank farm posed a serious risk to public safety.
While Perrin says the existing tanks have never been seismically upgraded, the group doesn’t want to see a proposed tripling of tanks in the area.
“There would be 26. And the new tanks would be much bigger than the old tanks,” Perrin says.
BROKE is working on getting a new evaluation of the tank farm.
