Chevron’s Burnaby refinery went through an emergency response exercise on Wednesday.
Transport Canada asks the company to complete a drill every three years, but Chevron conducts one every year to test its Incident Command System.
“We run through how we would respond internally. If we have an event, we notify our regulators, so we go out and make sure all those people know how we can get in touch with them,” said Chevron spokesperson Kel Coulson.
Part of the mock scenario in the Burrard Inlet included a diesel spill. Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC), the only Transport Canada-certified response organization for Canada’s West Coast, was “called in” as a result. (By participating in the drill, WCMRC also maintained its Transport Canada certification.)
As part of the exercise, four of the corporation’s vessels were deployed to the Chevron site. Crews were given a trajectory of the diesel spill – no actual substance was put in the water – and acted accordingly. They used about 1,000 feet of boom and then proceeded to put “skimmers” on the water.
“Diesel is a very light fuel so from the air you’ll see a lot of sheen, but sometimes that sheen is too thin to pick up and it’s just going to evaporate. The areas where there was boom deployed to contain it, likely it will become thick enough to skim,” explained Michael Lowry, WCMRC’s communications manager.
The vessels then went back and forth with the tide, following the slick as it went in and out with the current. The drill wrapped up in the afternoon.
Chevron Canada is currently putting out feelers for the sale of its marketing and refining assets, including the Burnaby facility. As it stands, “the expression of interest is ongoing,” said Coulson when asked if there are any interested buyers.
