About 30 Balzac and area residents showed up to a Nexen open house at the Balzac Community Hall to learn about the decommissioning of the energy company’s nearby gas plant, Oct. 18.
By 2014, Nexen plans to have the entire plant demolished as well as the two 400-foot smoke stacks that have become an iconic symbol in the area.
“Most people are interested in what we’re doing and lots of questions around the stacks,” said Andrew Hamilton, Nexen’s project manager for the abandonment and reclamation of the site.
“The answer is ‘we still don’t really know what we’re going to do to bring them down.’”
Imploding the stacks could cause a shockwave so deep it could disrupt gas turbines and power stations.
“We have to be very careful how we’re going to do that and coordinate that,” he said.
Beginning in 2012, Nexen will hire contractors to remove the asbestos and sulphur from the plant.
The plant itself will be leveled in 2013, according to Hamilton. That process includes turning the groundwater and soil back to its original cleanliness and removing concrete foundations and underground piping.
The plant sits adjacent to McDonald Lake Lake, an area where many waterfowl congregate and Hamilton said Nexen will work hard to make sure the water and its surrounding area is restored to its original state.
Balzac resident Dorothy McCreary lives west of the plant and said she was disappointed.
“It’s definitely sad for the district because they’ve been very good community neighbours,” she said.
McCreary said she had problems before with sulphur smells emanating from the plant, but that Nexen always “rectified the problem right away and told you what was going on.”
Carol Ham and her husband lived north of the plant on a farm for 35 years and said their relationship with Nexen was always pleasant. They’ve since moved, but came to the open house to find out future plans for the facility.
“We’ve heard for years the plant was going to be abandoned,” she said. “I guess it was to be expected.”
Ham’s husband also worked at the plant for 15 years.
Hamilton said the sour gas reservoirs in the area have become non-economical.
Some remaining wells have been diverted away, he added. Abandonment on Nexen’s 60 wells will commence next year, beginning with those closest to urban centres.
The process will take between three and four years.
