Dust, noise and coal leavings were hot topics at a community forum in Exshaw, Thursday (Oct. 6).
More than two dozen residents, Lafarge employees among them, gathered to hear plans concerning Lafarge’s planned expansion and modernization project.
The meeting was also the first chance for new plant manager Heinz Knopfel to meet with residents; late in the meeting, he said the event was an eye opener.
And, while the event was to be an information session, with a question and answer period to wrap up, the mostly angry residents couldn’t wait to fire questions at Lafarge personnel.
As an introduction, though, Knopfel explained he’s a 30-year-man who started working in the Exshaw plant in 1981, worked for eight years in different positions, then left to work in Europe and Ohio before now returning.
“There have been lots of changes over the years,” said Knopfel, who said Alberta is very strong economically and told those present it’s great to see that his company will be putting money back into the plant.
The U.S. economy is, “in the toilet,” said Knopfel and cement is worth half what it is in Canada. As well, Lafarge share prices have dropped dramatically. “Lafarge is feeling it very much financially,” he said. “But we intend to complete the project.”
According to Lafarge, the company has filed for an extension of its operating permit with equipment upgrades and modernization plans extended to May 31, 2015. At that time, said Knopfel, all will be completed, or Alberta Environment will not allow the plant to continue operation.
For Exshaw residents concerned, or ‘alarmed’ as one stated, by what they see as increased dust and noise levels, though, an extension and events in recent weeks caused an uproar.
Residents’ complaints ranged from the company not developing land for housing to increased noise levels from plant operations to increased dust accumulation, questionable emissions from plant stacks, an incident of coal being dumped on the ground on the plant site and reject coal storage.
In 2010, Lafarge bought a parcel of land in Exshaw which was to be purchased for employee housing, but Knopfel said the project is on hold due to economic restraints. “But when we are able to develop, it will be through the MD and the proper approval process. Nobody has said what kind of what housing, but it’s needed and I wish we had it now.
“Our vision is we would like to develop company housing, we recognized the need.”
Several attendees said the land purchase, with no housing built, effectively sterilized the property. Store owner Al Doll said the company sat on 10 or 12 lots through the economic boom, but built no housing.
“Over the last 20 years no housing has been built by Lafarge in the community,” said Doll. “What would make me believe the parcel next door to my business would be developed?”
One of the reasons housing has been on hold, said Lafarge’s Environment Manager Brad Watson, is due to competition with oilsands operations in Fort McMurray. “It’s not the intention to sterilize the land.”
At that point, the meeting took a turn when Dennis Gignac brought up an incident where coal used to fire Lafarge kilns was dumped on the ground on-site.
Coal dumped on the ground was a “bad choice” made by an employee, said Watson, who added he and Community Affairs Relations Manager Joel Taguchi heard about it at 3:30 p.m. on the day it happened, and it was stopped by 4 p.m.
“It was immediately cleaned up,” said Watson, “and a loader pushed it into the building.”
“You’ll sacrifice our community for a buck?” asked Gignac “We suffer for it.”
When asked by Knopfel how he suffered for it, Gignac said he has seen black water running into sewer drains.
Taguchi and Watson, though assured that runoff from the site is diverted into collection ponds and does not reach the Bow River.
Once the topic of coal arose, Mike McCarthy and Gerry Degagne said in the past, a small amount of reject coal on site amounted to about a bucket load for a skid steer loader. More recently, though, they said, several tons are stored in a pile on site.
Rocky Ridge Condominium Association President Geoff Elkins said he is tired of listening to Lafarge excuses for noise, dust and contaminated coal. “I’ve listened to you for years and it absolutely gets worse every year. I don’t see any improvement.”
Most recently, in August and September, many residents say dust and noise levels rose. At the time (Aug. 12), said Lafarge’s Watson, there was a “significant failure” with a crusher which necessitated use of a portable crusher which was not equipped with the same dust collection system. While crusher repairs were being made, the portable unit was on-line until Sept. 4.
Throughout the repair process, said Watson, particulate monitoring was taking place at different locations.
Whatever was happening at the time, said resident Amanda Kelly, she noticed different dust on her car and different coloured emissions from Lafarge stacks. Her comment on emissions was echoed by several others, who saw there has been a certain colour to emissions seen from Gap Lake Hill.
Lafarge is using the same coal as 10 years ago, said Knopfel, but things have changed in the area, including that the quarry is different, the mountain being mined is now lower and wind patterns and the climate have changed.
While two kilns were down during the crusher problem, said Watson, gravel bed filters and emissions were being monitored. Monitoring showed a rise in opacity from the usual 10 to 15 per cent to 20 to 25 per cent on the weekend the crusher failed, but well below the mandated maximum of 40 per cent.
“At 20 per cent is the time to take action,” said Knopfel, “that’s when it becomes more visible.”
Lafarge’s data didn’t impress Kelly, though, who said she was concerned, along with others, that increased levels of dust and noise would now continue into 2015.
“I worry about health impacts,” said Kelly, who did compliment Lafarge on its community involvement with the library, sports teams and other events. “I’m a cancer survivor. But your data and what I saw are far apart. I’m breathing it and wiping it off window sills… it’s a hard pill to swallow.”
Doll also didn’t buy into Lafarge data. He said mud that falls from Lafarge trucks off-site dries up, then blows around, adding to the plant’s dust. On complaints he made, roads were swept for a time, but sweeping has stopped.
“Everybody says it’s not their issue, but I try to keep it out of my face, my lungs and my property. When I come around Gap Lake Hill in the morning I don’t know what’s in the air, but I smell something industrial and I know it’s no good.
“I’m a neighbour and I don’t like to hear ‘what we have is outdated.’ 2015 is four years away and how many here will be less healthy?”
Most of those gathered agreed that dust and noise levels have been a growing problem over the past few years, although Watson monitors show dust levels have declined since 2002.
Several people asked that dust and noise monitors be placed at their homes rather than just at the Lafarge site and one resident presented Knopfel with an envelope full of dust collected from a back yard deck (which Lafarge is to test).
As the forum continued, several residents raised the issue of Lafarge loudly running equipment and fans over-capacity to make up for down time and Kelly said at one point in the last six weeks, noise levels had risen to the point where she couldn’t hear a group of 10 10- to 12-year-olds playing in her back yard.
“Management don’t live in Exshaw,” pointed out Kelly. “The optics are bad; you drive away at the end of the day. There was a time management lived here.”
In the end, Knopfel said Lafarge had not added noise-making machines at the plant and Watson said the company has spent $1 million on noise mitigation.
“We make improvements, measure sources, model sound in the surrounding area, list what we need to work on, then re-prioritize the list again.” In 2012, he said, the gravel bed filter stack will have a noise-reducing cone installed and silencing baffles will be placed on kiln building roof vents.
“Noise reduction is the largest capital investment in the 2012 budget,” he said.
In wrapping up the forum, Knopfel said he’d look into problem with the coal reject pile and as to running over capacity, he said the plant hadn’t made budget in the last two months and was not pushing production higher between shutdowns.
“We’re listening, we hear you,” assured Knopfel, who said the Exhaw plant is the only one Lafarge has with a community relations manager like Taguchi and a environment manager like Watson. “There is an end date; a light at the end of the tunnel. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but the gravel beds will be gone and kiln five will be removed.”
In the near future, said Taguchi, complaints such as those raised at the Thursday forum, should be eliminated with creation of a community liaison group.
“We know we need to be responsive,” he said. “Let us know. We’re not happy to know we’ve had a negative impact.”
“Steps have been taken,” he said, “in response to items like the gravel bed filter emissions and dumped coal. After the feedback tonight, we’ve got work we will do.
“We won’t stand here and say we’re perfect and have zero impact. But we need you to help us understand what your families are dealing with.”
Communication prior “to a bevy of complaints being levelled would be more appropriate, said Taguchi, who added Lafarge will provide information to the community through regular bulletins in the future.
“Communication is an important part of our operation,” he said. “If we want to work together, the best is timely and direct contact.”
And if the problems aren’t resolved and communication doesn’t improve, on Tuesday (Oct. 11) MD of Bighorn Councillor Paul Ryan urged the municipality consider meeting with Alberta Environment, the provincial ministry that regulates heavy industry, to begin discussions about the next step.
“I think we need to act on behalf of our residents if we have that type of angst and anger. We need to meet with Alberta Environment to explore our options,” Ryan said. “If we are not being communicated to at the MD level we have to act on behalf of the residents.
“Clearly we have met with Lafarge a number of times that has not been fruitful. The community wants us to represent them. Is something being done contrary to their (Lafarge) operating regulations? We don’t know this?”
MD Reeve Dene Cooper and Coun. Reid Taylor, while not ruling out bringing Alberta Environment into the conversation, instead suggested giving Lafarge time to get its community process going.
“Lafarge has started a conversation with the community and now we have to give it a chance,” Cooper said. “This is not where you hit the ball out of the park, this is where you get the ball rolling. This is the conversation that will engage the community for a full four years.”
As well, Taylor suggested the MD meet with Lafarge to discuss community communications and relations in a move to assist the plant.
“There may be no downside to meet with these guys to talk about strategy for public relations. There may be things that could occur from that. Think about that as an option before you haul in Alberta Environment; that could jack up the emotion,” Taylor said.
Ryan, whose frustration was evident during the meeting, agreed, stating the province can be brought into the process at any time, if necessary.
“We’ve had six meetings with Lafarge in August and September about this issue. It was made very clear that the community was reaching a boiling point and now they have met that boiling point. It’s reached the point that it is hard to reign back in again. I can let this go another month, but I’ve reached my point as well,” he said.
“We can pull the Alberta Environment card any time we want, but once you pull the pin, it’s like a grenade – you can’t put it back in.”
The question of whether or not the municipality should engage Alberta Environment will come back again at the MD’s next regular council meeting in November.
