Odour from Burnaby refinery leaves residents with questions

There’s a call for more information after a refinery in Burnaby emitted a noxious smell that blanketed the region.

Shawn Vulliez is among the many people in Metro Vancouver who smelled something strange Sunday morning.

“There’s a lot of kids in the city, elders, I’ve got a kid, so I was pretty disturbed by it,” Vulliez said.

“They say that everything is all good, but we don’t really think we can trust the oil and gas industry to honestly tell us whether or not they’ve done something that’s harmful.”

The Vancouver resident believes there’s been a delay in information, or a lack of it, and is among a group of people who have started a letter writing campaign to MLAs and MPs, looking for answers.

“We want a full investigation into what happened, full disclosure on what was released and how much, and we want full accountability from the Burnaby refinery or any oil and gas company that does this kind of thing,” he said.

Vulliez says the campaign also calls for third party testing of the air and timely public health warnings in events like this.

CityNews started getting reports about the strong chemical odour around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, with some saying they felt dizzy or sick.

About an hour and a half later, the Vancouver Fire Chief said there was a “hydrocarbon industrial event” happening in Burnaby.

But it took a few more hours before Metro Vancouver issued an air quality statement and the Parkland Refinery released a statement.

In its statement, Parkland said it experienced what it called, “an issue with one of its processing units.”

Chris Carlsten, a professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia, says while the incident is concerning, a bad smell doesn’t necessarily mean people are being exposed to something toxic.

But he says he too would like to see more transparency.

“I think there’s a lot to be revealed still about the full nature of this event,” Carlsten said.

“For the company to get ahead of that and actually release the data and do so in a way that’s understandable, I think it can actually help them with all these concerns.”

Late Monday afternoon, Metro Vancouver released more information, saying it monitors three air contaminants emitted from the refinery: particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide. It says while sulphur dioxide levels did increase, they didn’t exceed Metro Vancouver’s objectives.

But Vulliez says the language used by the company to describe the incident leaves him wanting more.

“They say it was a normal, small incident, (using) this kind of minimizing language. If it’s such a normal, small incident, why don’t they tell us what was released how much was released, what sort of health effects people can expect from this?” he said.

Metro Vancouver says it also continues to assess Parkland’s compliance with their air quality permit.