Residents living near the site of a proposed business to blend compounds used in oilfield fracking urged Lacombe County’s municipal planning commission to reject the project.
There are too many unknowns about the nature of the substances used by NEXT Legacies Technologies and what would happen if there was a fire or a spill at the site about two km north of Lacombe, said nearby landowners during a hearing on Thursday.
The commission agreed and unanimously rejected the application.
Andrew Wildeboer, who owns a dairy about three km north of the site, expressed concerns about what would happen if chemicals got into nearby waterways, which lead to a number of other dairies.
Sometimes problems with a new product only emerge many years later, said Wildeboer.
“To me (the plant) should be in an industrial park. That’s why we have industrial parks.”
Rick Williams said he needed more information about what would happen in case of a spill and whether groundwater would be affected.
“These haven’t been answered for me today. I need to know that.”
Reached later by phone, NEXT investor Grant Creasey was taken aback that the commission did not go with county planning staff’s recommendation to conditionally approve the project
“We’re just a little surprised. It seems a little irregular, especially when the county already has examples of oilfield supply and service companies approved in the area,” said Creasey, who is a Lacombe city councillor and has announced plans to run for mayor in the fall.
Creasey said they were led to believe approval would be a “rubber stamp” because they had met all of the county’s requests for additional information made when their application was first reviewed last November.
“I really don’t understand what it is they want,” he said.
A decision was deferred then until an independent environmental review was provided that confirmed the development would not impact nearby Wolf Creek, and that a landscaping plan be prepared.
A report by Calgary’s Peregrine Environmental Services was included in the company’s new application.
It states the business will blend, re-pack and store organic substances before they are trucked to customers.
The products have no “obvious potential to cause significant health or environmental impacts (and) there is no need for special controls or practices.” Storage sites and the blending plant would not drain towards any waterways, the report adds.
In a public open house last September, NEXT showed off its technology that it believes will revolutionize petroleum production.
The company says it has developed a fracturing compound that gets superior results with very little water and no toxic chemicals.
However, on Thursday councillors said they needed more information.
“The technology is brand new. I don’t know if we should be approving this at this time or not,” said Coun. Keith Stephenson.
Coun. Paula Law said there are “ too many unknowns with this.”
About a dozen residents applauded when the commission voted against the application.
“We’re very pleased,” said Wildeboer, outside council chambers. “There were a lot of neighbours that were very concerned about it.”
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com