Kinder Morgan's Burnaby Tank Farm Could Destroy Large Area of Burnaby Killing and Injuring Thousands

In the middle of the city of Burnaby, in the middle of Vancouver's lower mainland the most densly populated city in Canada, between its local neighbourhoods, an urban forest and the University of Simon Fraser is Kinder Morgan's tank farm. A tank farm where the oil and diluted tar sands the products delivered by the Kinder Morgan pipeline are stored before shipping. Current the tank farm contains 1.7 million barrels of product to be expanded to 5.6 million barrels. The existing tank farm has long been a serious risk for the city and university, but more than tripling its storage capacity will increase the magnitude of destruction and death that will occur if a fire breaks out.

Burnaby Mountain Terminal

Concerned Professional Engineers (CPE) registered Professional Engineers have done a risk analysis of the Burnaby mountain tank farm and found the site unsafe. They have recommended it be relocated away from residential areas to Robert Banks terminal at the end of a causeway surrounded by the sea. Any fire at the current location of the tank farm facility could not be extinguishable they have concluded as there is a lack of firefighting positions because of its location. There are no safe access routes from which a firefighter could stage a response to a fire.

Existing Tank Farm

Tank Farm After Expansion

Such a fire could cause a "boilover," something that has happened at other tank farm fires, that would discharge heated molten crude oil outwards of 2000 feet from a single tank, resulting in a massive life hazard area. This area is likely to include the entire tank farm; the Forest Grove, Meadowood, Sperling-Duthie communities, and the only access road to the forested Burnaby mountain cutting of the whole university at the top of the mountain from being able to escape. It would also likely set fire to the the urban forest which could rage up the mountain and into the campus where thousands would be trapped.

Location of Tank far in the City of Burnaby

Adding diluted tar sands to the facility will introduce an additional risk to surrounding communities as was found in the Kalamzoo River spill which forced residence out of their homes because of the toxic fumes, some of these residence never returned. The crew that tried to clean up the spill had to wear respirators.

The existing Kinder Morgan tank farm has no immediate communication plans, protocols or procedures for notifying surrounding communities. So it is quite likely that it would be some time before a coordinated effort to address the fire could be made.

Not in Cities!

If you look at the placement of most tank farms they are not usually placed in densly populate cities like Burnaby, but rather in isolated areas for obvious reasons. The tank farm in Burnaby is one of a few inappropriately placed tank farms that needs to be relocated. If you look at the history of tank farm fires and explosions,  few videos are located below, they are devistating to any near by community.
So what might happen to a tank farm fire here in Burnaby especially if the most likely time for a fire might be during the heat of a summer? Initially the explosion and flying parts might do damage to the surrounding businesses and housing development. The ensuing fire which the experts say can not be fought will likely spread both into the surrounding communities and into the forest above the tank farm. SFUs two roads would be immediately cut of first because of exploding tanks and second from the fires. 

The Imfamous Whiting Indiana Tank Farm Explosion

James River Tank Farm Explosion

San Juan Puerto Rico Tank Farm Explosion

B-Roll of an explosion in San Juan Puerto Rico Oct. 24, 2009. Scenes include aerial shots of the fires.

Excellent Video on the Tank Farm Risk

References:

Whiting refinery explosion seemed like the end of the world

Mexico: Possible Geothermal Energy Resource Discovered off Baja California

Geothermal energy potential found in deep waters off Los Cabos (Mexico News Daily)

“We found that there were wells [with water] of 90 degrees C. When we went to get samples, we calculated that the temperature of the deposit was close to 200 C, which suggested that it could produce a lot of energy,” Leading researcher Rosa María Prol said.

Mexico News Daily article July 11, 2018.

Ireland Is Officially the First Country to Divest From Fossil Fuels

The rolling hills of Ireland.Photo: Giuseppe Milo (Flickr)

"The Irish have beaten the rest of us to it. The Republic of Ireland is the first country in the world to move toward divesting from fossil fuels. The divestment process should be wrapped up in five years, per the Guardian.
First, the move to divest has to pass through parliament, though. The lower house of parliament passed a bill Thursday to sell off fossil fuel investments in its $9.3 billion national investment fund, including those in coal, oil, gas, and peat, which is organic plant matter extracted from swamps."

The Guardian Article by Damian Carrington.

Provincial Government Behaviour Stuck in Last Century

The Province of BC has been fixated on a dangerous hydro-electric project in Northern BC. Unlike most countries, either advanced or not they have not abandoned hydro technology, anchored in the 19th century. This technology that began in 1881 ran its course through the first part of the 20th century as a miracle of technology. In the latter half of the century as new more modern methods of energy were being developed, the enormous drawbacks of hydro began to emerge. The enormous destruction of the ecological systems that we depend on for food began to become more and more apparent.
Why then would the Provincial government continue to pursue this failing technology at a time when there are cheaper more reliable methods to produce electricity? Especially in a Province where its geothermal capacity could not only power the whole province and also make it a power exporter.
One only needs to look at the insanity that went on with Meager Creek.

Well MC6 being flow-tested at Meager Creek, BC/ Canada (source: Western GeoPower)

The province has been talking about operationalizing this geothermal resource since 1984.
Meagre Creek is a high potential geothermal field, that if developed as a modern binary geothermal power plant would have a very large capacity. What seems to be getting in the way of forcing a fast development of this project is a diversion of funding and emphasis to a large dam project in the peace river that will destroy an agricultural area with one of the longest growing seasons in the province.
In the interim, the province has issued yet again another lease in this area until 2037. One can only hope that this time the company developing this resource will not leave to go elsewhere where there is greater interest, like last time.
Canada is falling further and further behind the times with its continued emphasis on hydro and fossil fuels (both last centuries technologies), and are now quite out of step with the rest of the world. If Edison and Rockefeller were starting out today they would not be looking at hydro and fossil fuels they would be looking at geothermal power plans.

Combined Heat, Power and Metal Extraction CHPM

Heat Power and Metal Extraction

At various locations in the world, geothermal power plants have been extracting metals from geothermal liquids, while producing electrical energy for the grid. Now an organization called CHPM203 is in the process of researching and designing systems that can do this more effectively while creating a scientific resource for future improvements in the process. They see the merging of mineral extraction and the production of electrical energy as a more sustainable financial model that solves two key problems. How to mine without damaging the ecological system and how to produce a clean constant source of energy. 

http://www.chpm2030.eu/introduction/

Geothermal Power Plant Advantages

A geothermal electric plant has a number of advantages it is clean green energy, it operates 24 hours a day 7 days a week, it has the smallest footprint of any power plant, it is the cheapest method of producing green energy and it's waste hot water heats cities. It can also extract minerals without having to create any environmental damage. So what are the minerals that have been extracted from geothermal liquids? Here is a short list of some of these minerals zinc, silica, lithium, manganese, boron, lead, silver, antimony and strontium.

Krafla, Geothermal Power Plant Iceland

So who is CHPM2030, it is a project funded by the European Commission tasked with improving a disruptive technology that can help Europe meet both its energy and strategic metals needs. They are partnered with 12 universities and agencies in addition to a number of third parties. Click here for a complete list. 

Geothermal Power Stations Around the World

Geothermal electric plants can be found all over the world in 24 countries and more countries are building these plants every year. In 2010 they produced 10,1715 kilowatts of power an increase of 20% since 2005. In the US alone there are 77 geothermal electric power stations producing clean energy. The Philippines, after the US, is the second largest producer of geothermal and it supplies 27% of the power needs of the country. Unfortunately, Canada is the only major country on the "Ring of Fire" that has not yet develop geothermal electric energy, and it has massive untapped reserves. 

Geothermal Plants in Japan

Sonoma Plant at Geysers, California Grid

Geothermal Plants in the US

Methods of Producing Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy uses a process similar to other steam turbine power stations except it needs no fuel it uses heat from the earth's core to heat water to drive the turbines. There are four types of power stations currently being used.

Dry Steam Power Stations

This is perhaps the most primitive of the systems as it uses steam directly from the earth to drive turbines.

Dry Steam System

Flash Steam Power Stations

This method of producing power from the earth's heat is slightly more refined than the Dry Steam Power Station, it uses high-pressure hot water to flash steam from cold water, which in turn drive the turbines. However it is old technology.

Flash Steam Power Station

Binary Cycle Power Stations

This is the modern method of producing geothermal electricity from the earth's heat. It fundamentally is a heat exchanger where geothermal liquids are passed by a secondary fluid that has a much lower boiling point than water. Thus it can drive a steam turbine using considerably lower temperatures. This is how modern Geothermal Plants are constructed. 

Binary Cycle Power Station

Geothermal Closed Loop Power Stations

This method of producing geothermal energy is revolutionizing the production of geothermal power as it does not require finding a hot water source. It simply circulates a liquid usually, usually one that has a lower boiling point, through a closed loop drilled into the earth's surface. This means, of course, it could be used much more easily outside of the ring of fire, anywhere in the world. 

Source ECO2G Infographic Green Fire Energy