EMMA GROBBINK
BRUIN PREVIEW
Local youth attends conference
A3
A10
New faces for this year
Issue 20
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
Semi rollover results in minor oil leak By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
A rollover involving an eastbound semi-trailer unit on Thursday night resulted in minor injuries for the driver and a small oil leak that was quickly contained. Fire Chief Dale Feser said the fire department, along with the Estevan RCMP and Emergency Medical Services, were called to the rollover just after 10 p.m. The incident occurred just east of the Roche Percee valley along Highway 39. Initial reports were that the driver wasn’t trapped, but the semi unit was carrying hazardous materials, which proved to be about 36 cubic metres of sweet crude oil. The semi-trailer was found in the south ditch, about 50 feet from the highway. “We did an assessment immediately of the leaks that had occurred as a result of the collision. After doing our quick assessment and isolating the vehicle from any other ignition services, we were able to talk to the driver and cross-reference,” said Feser. After determining that it was oil on board, mitigation of the leaks began. “The crews were able to slow, however, not stop the leak, and in co-ordinated efforts with the trucking company, we were able to get another highway transport truck to come in to offload the materials on board that hadn’t spilled,” he said. Feser called it a very well-run response in terms of collaborative efforts with the trucking company. “We had to wait for specialized individuals to arrive from Williston (N.D.) on scene,” said Feser.
Environmental damage was minimal. About 100 litres of oil leaked from the truck, with approximately 20 litres spilling onto the ground before the fire department arrived. All of the oil that was leaked was able to be captured. Traffic impacts were minimal, he said. Traffic was reduced to one lane, but was able to proceed without rerouting, except for a brief period of time Friday morning, when recovery crews with the towing companies arrived on scene to try to remove the semi-trailer unit. Detours were in place for about five minutes for lighter vehicles, while commercial vehicles remained on Highway 39. “By and large, I think all of the motorists co-operated quite readily with us as well, because they were reducing their speed and observing a safe work zone for all of the emergency responders that were working on scene,” said Feser. The driver, who suffered minor injuries, was taken to hospital via ambulance, treated for those injuries, and released. The fire chief was surprised to see the driver wasn’t more seriously hurt considering the extent of the damage to the semi-trailer. Feser noted the fire department didn’t return to Estevan until about 7:40 a.m. Friday morning. The time needed to offload the sweet crude oil from the overturned truck was the biggest reason for the response time. “We had to make sure that the specialist for the company was on-site as well, and he was bringing a specialized fitting … that they can … safely displace the crude oil from one tankard to another,” said Feser.
Unit 3 at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Power Station is now back online, and that means the CCS facility is also operational again.
Unit 3 returns to service; CCS process resumes Unit 3 at the Boundary Dam Power Station has returned to service, nearly three months after a severe thunderstorm knocked it offline. And now that Unit 3 is back, the carbon capture and storage facility at Boundary Dam is also functioning, since Unit 3 needs to be operating for the CCS facility to work. SaskPower announced on Thursday morning that Unit 3 was online, after weeks of precision repairs to fix the damage to the turbine from June’s storm. Unit 3 resumed generating power on Sept. 3. The CCS facility was successfully brought online shortly after. On Sept. 4, start-up of the CO2 compressor began and CO2 is now being delivered to Whitecap Resources for enhanced oil recovery.
One person charged in break and enter One male is facing several charges following a break and enter in north Estevan during Saturday’s night shift. Members of the Estevan Police Service were called to the incident, which occurred at the residence of a family of six that includes small children. The suspect had allegedly broken out part of
a window when police arrived and was subsequently arrested. All occupants of the residence were unharmed, but the suspect received minor injuries when breaking through the window. Once medically cleared, he was lodged in cells pending further investigation.
The suspect and the victims are known to each other. Jesse Campbell, a 23-year-old man from Estevan, has been charged with breaching his probation order, break and enter to a residence, committing mischief under $5,000 and uttering threats. His next court appearance is slated for Nov. 5.
“For the past month or so, we’ve been saying that this is the timeline that we were working towards, and I know that as those parts started coming in over the course of the last month, we had crews working … shifts around the clock, pulling in different workers from other plants to get this back up and running as quickly and safely as possible,” said Jordan Jackle, an issues management and media relations consultant at SaskPower. Jackle isn’t aware of any issues that occurred at Unit 3 or the CCS facility once they were powered up last week. “ We fired everything back up, in the general way that we do when either the power unit or the CCS unit
is down, and everything is back up and running again,” said Jackle. The massive parts that needed repair went as far as Savannah, Georgia, and some of the work was so precise it needed to be completed within less than a millimetre. “It was quite the undertaking and we are glad that it is now back up and running,” said Jackle. The fact that the repairs were made in the summer months, when many people are on holidays, likely didn’t slow down the amount of time needed to get the unit up and running again. “This is a very large piece of machinery that requires a lot of care when you’re transporting it and when you’re
taking it apart, and so it took a good while to actually get things taken apart to even see what the problem was and then diagnose it, and then make a plan for repair.” Jackle reiterated previous statements from SaskPower that there isn’t anything in the Unit 3 turbine that makes it more susceptible to significant damage like what was caused by the thunderstorm on June 14. “It was a very significant storm that did significant damage to the transmission lines … and the damage was pretty incredible,” said Jackle. “Every unit tripped off, and (as far as) really pinpointing why, we’re still working on that. What we do know is that it was damaged significantly.”
Estevan’s visitor centre to remain open throughout the year By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
The City of Estevan has announced that its Visitor Information Centre is going to remain open yearround, instead of just the summer months. The information centre was relocated from a log
cabin-style structure west of the city limits to the Estevan Leisure Centre’s former concession area earlier this year. The new location opened in June. Since that time, the information centre has been a site where people can meet for energy tours, purchase local souvenirs and pick up
information about the community. During the summer months, it was open from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Now that the information centre is open beyond the summer months, its schedule for the hours of operation will change. A2 » NUMBER
118 Souris Ave. N., Estevan 306-634-3696 www.senchuk.com