From: Alberta Environment Communications Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 11:57 AM To: DL-AENV Subject: NEWS RELEASE: Environmental Impact Assessment required for Bruderheim plant   Environmental Impact Assessment required for Bruderheim plant Edmonton... Alberta Environment has ordered Alberta Sulphur Terminal (AST) to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment for a proposed sulphur forming and storage yard near Bruderheim in north central Alberta. The assessment must be completed before AST's application for environmental approvals will be considered. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will provide Alberta Environment, other regulators, and the public with detailed information on any potential environmental, social, economic and cultural impacts of the proposed sulphur forming and storage yard. The EIA will also include plans on how the company would address any potential adverse impacts and respond to emergencies. Under Alberta legislation, some types of projects, such as pulp mills, oilsands developments, oil refineries and large dams, automatically require an Environmental Impact Assessment. For other types of projects such as the one proposed by AST, Alberta Environment can require an EIA if more information is needed, or if there are concerns about the project's location, size and nature of the project, potential for environmental impacts, or other concerns expressed by the public. Sulphur is a byproduct of the oil and gas industry. A sulphur forming facility converts the sulphur into a solid form called pastilles, which are then exported to market. AST is a division of HAZCO Environmental Services Ltd Alberta. More information about the environmental review process is available on the Alberta Environment website atwww.environment.gov.ab.ca. - 30 -   Media enquiries may be directed to: Kim Hunt Communications Alberta Environment (780) 427-6267 Kim.Hunt@gov.ab.ca Dial 310-0000 for toll free access outside Edmonton

The CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS of Alberta Environment's Screening Report read as follows:

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SCREENING REPORT, ALBERTA SULPHUR TERMINALS LTD. PROPOSED SULPHUR MANAGEMENT FACILITY BRUDERHEIM, ALBERTA, Alberta Environment, April 7, 2006, p. 8 (Full Report, 1.1 MB PDF file)

The screening report states,

It should be noted that this is, by far, the most Statements of Concern ever received by Alberta Environment in response to the preparation of a Screening Report to determine the need for an EIA report." (Ibid., p. 4)

What this all means is not that Alberta Environment decided against HAZCO's application. Alberta Environment merely ruled that HAZCO must do a full-scale Environmental Impact Assessment study before HAZCO's application can receive further consideration. In addition, Alberta Environment stated that "AST’s proposed project and EIA report should be referred to the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) for review under the NRCB Act.

In that fashion HAZCO's intentions would, at least theoretically, receive much closer and much more intensive scrutiny than they received until now.

Although HAZCO's application no longer includes a sulphur block, a sulphur block may be added subsequent to the proposed initial-stage-and-first-step of HAZCO's plans. HAZCO's Don Friesen did not rule out that possibility in his answer to specific questions that targeted HAZCO's plans in that regard during the question period at the end of the second day of the Lamont County Municipal Planning Commission's hearing (March 23, 2006). In clarifying his initial response to the question on whether HAZCO intends to ever store sulphur in a block at the proposed site, Don Friesen stated in his response that at the present time HAZCO has no plans to have a sulphur block on the site.
   Given that HAZCO's initial plans for Thorhild County, for Sturgeon County and  for Lamont County did include "short-term" (up to 65 years by HAZCO's definition of "short term") sulphur storage in the form of landfill or above-surface blocks, that answer by Don Friesen was to be expected.

Notwithstanding the revisions made to the scope of HAZCO's original intentions for Lamont County, HAZCO essentially now reached the same extent of progress with its plans as it did with its similar proposal for Sturgeon County. At that time HAZCO gave up on its proposal for Sturgeon County, while in Thorhild County the massive expenditures of time and efforts in opposing HAZCO's intention were headed off in the beginning when the Council of the County of Thorhild showed the required smarts to prevent HAZCO's attempts from progressing as far as they did in Sturgeon County and Lamont County.

It remains to be seen whether HAZCO will now proceed with a full Environmental Impact Assessment study that will require great expense (in the order of about $1.5 million) and have uncertain consequences in the subsequent stages of the approval process, or whether HAZCO will now begin another attempt to foster acceptance of a sulphur-storage and-handling facility at a new location of its choice in Alberta.

Once more, many thanks to all who participated in opposing HAZCO's plans for Lamont County, however, we must remain alert and vigilant. The end of HAZCO's attempts for Lamont County may be just around the corner, but it is not yet in sight.