WESTLOCK – The corporate owner of a long-since shuttered bulk fuel station previously located on the southwest side of 108th Street in Westlock now faces up to a $1.6 million clean-up bill, although Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) says the level of contamination isn’t a cause of concern, or issue to nearby residential properties.
At the June 28 Town of Westlock council meeting, councillors voted 7-0 to amend the 2021 capital budget, adding $1.6 million for remediation costs on 108th Street — a stretch the town is already spending $7.3 million on over the next two years to rehabilitate.
The municipality will front the clean-up bill, then invoice Imperial Oil, Canada's second-biggest integrated oil company. So far the company has been billed $782,498.31 — MPE Engineering Ltd., which is the town’s engineering firm, estimates the entire clean-up job will come in at $1.6 million and has started a separate job to track the costs.
CAO Simone Wiley said that during the process there’s been extensive communication with Imperial Oil, AEP and MPE Engineering, with environmental consultants from both Imperial and MPE on site. It was agreed by all parties, Wiley continued, that in an effort to keep costs low and minimize the lost time on the project, the town’s contractor, Knelsen Sand & Gravel, would handle the remediation project.
“It’s good the regulators have been involved since the get go. That sort of thing has improved over the years substantially,” said mayor Ralph Leriger. “It’s no surprise (there’s contamination) really because there’s been monitoring wells on it for many years.”
Wiley said June 30 that the work, which included removal of soil contaminated with “heavy concentrations of hydrocarbons” and the installation of a plastic underground liner to contain further seepage from the site, is now complete and the town will go through the final costs before invoicing Imperial Oil for the remainder. Materials that tested above a standard set by AEP were taken to the nearest Class 2 Landfill that deals with hydrocarbon waste, the Roseridge Waste Management in Morinville.
“This happened early in the process (work on the stretch started April 6). The underground contractor doing the water and sewer were trucking along on 108th and came up to this property and encountered the hydrocarbons and that slowed everything down,” said Wiley, noting construction crews have since continued east and have yet to encounter any more contaminated soil.
“Prior to the start of this project we knew that there was a possibility. We knew there was an old bulk station there and we had tried to make contact with the landowner prior to the start of the project to let them know what we were doing and that we thought there was a high possibility we’d encounter something. They at that time said, ‘Call us when you find something.’”
The former bulk fuel site was located on a 300-by-94-foot lot on the southern side of 108th Street in Whissellville, about two lots west of where 98th Avenue begins. The north side of 108th Street, heading east from 97th Avenue to 98th Avenue, includes an apartment building, plus the backyards of homes, while the CN rail line runs parallel to the entire length of 108th Street.
Wiley couldn’t provide any details as to the history of the bulk fuel station, or how long it’s been gone, but according to research done by the Westlock News, the Imperial Oil warehouse, office and tanks occupied the site until at least the 1970s and was bookended by a pair of company oil spouts — Shell Canada also had an oil spout at the end of line. Spanning the south side of 108th Street, Alberta Wheat Pool, Cominco, United Grain Growers and Imperial Oil all had fertilizer sheds, in addition to the elevators and a stockyard.
The only photo the News was able to find in the local history book 80 Years of Progress pertaining to Imperial Oil documents a massive May 22, 1926 fire that destroyed the company’s warehouse — although the News has many years of past copies in its archives, the year 1926 is missing from the collection.
More contamination?
At the town’s June 28 meeting, Coun. Clem Fagnan asked if there’s any further contamination on the streets and avenues past where the remediation work has been done.
Wiley replied that it’s outside of the town’s jurisdiction to compel Imperial Oil to do further testing and said it’s her understanding a different gas station also operated somewhere in the Whissellville area in the past.
“We don’t have the authority to make the landowner test to see how far the contamination has migrated, that would be up to Alberta Environment. That would be called a ‘chase order.’ Alberta Environment will look at all the factors, all the information we’ve given them from our environmental engineer and they will determine if Imperial Oil has to chase the contamination,” said Wiley.
“Now, as a municipality we now know there is a high potential when we’re doing work on roadways in the proximity of this area that we may encounter hydrocarbons based on our knowledge of 108th Street. So we’ll be more prepared if we do have to go into these areas to do infrastructure work. Of course contamination doesn’t necessarily know where the lot lines are.”
In an e-mail received July 5, AEP stated: “Contamination limits have been defined on the north side of the roadway and are not expected to cause concern or issue to nearby residential properties. Alberta Environment and Parks will continue to work with Imperial Oil to ensure the contamination is appropriately managed until remediated.”
“Alberta Environment and Parks’ expectation, regardless of the site, is that a company responsible for contamination undertake appropriate management of contamination until remediation is completed,” the e-mail from AEP continues. “Appropriate management requires an understanding of the chemicals of concern at a site, the extent of contamination in soil and groundwater, the determination of applicable guidelines for the site, and the continued assurance of the protection of human health and the environment until the contamination is remediated.”
The most recent report AEP has on the site is from 2018 and is located here. The link also includes 23 reports and other correspondence relating to the site dating back to 1994.
Work on 108th delayed
Due to the contamination, work on the $7.3 million 108th Street project ($6.3M in 2021 and $1M in 2022) has been pushed back, said Wiley.
The road is receiving a fresh asphalt overlay, new curbs, gutters and sidewalks, as well as a new storm sewer line, sanitary sewer line and sanitary water line. In the spring Knelsen Sand & Gravel senior construction manager Darrell Quist said that weather would determine if it could be finished this year, or carried over to 2022 as they had allocated their season to it and are on site six days a week.
“It’s caused approximately about a two-month delay for the project. We’re waiting on timelines from the general contractor and optimistically with good weather we may be able to meet the original construction timeline,” said Wiley.
“And if not they’ll look at other strategies for capping the roadway over the winter and finishing it off in the next year. And if you recall we always thought it was going to be a two-year project due to the scope of the work.”
Imperial Oil was contacted to provide comment for the story, but did not respond by deadline. They have since replied and their comments, or a follow-up story, will be published when available.
