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Cenovus is dealing with a well release at the Rush Lake 2 thermal facility, about 80 kilometres southeast of Lloydminster.
In a statement emailed to battlefordsNOW, the energy company’s media relations department didn’t detail the cause of the release but said it is ‘primarily water vapour.’
The site is a thermal heavy oil project which uses steam underground to make it easier to extract oil.
“Berms are in place to isolate the impacted area and there is no evidence of any impacts on nearby water bodies or wildlife,” the email read.
To mitigate the incident, Cenovus Energy told the Meridian Source, a local newspaper in Lloydminster, it’s injecting water into the wells at the site and the activity intermittently creates increased release of water vapour and dirt at the site, resulting in a visible plume of smoke.
Out of an abundance of caution, one farmer remains out of his home and the company said it’s working closely with all neighbouring farmers. A 1.6 kilometre emergency protection zone around Rush Lake 2 has been established and there are three checkpoint roadblocks. Some access to the north of the facility is impacted.
Cenovus said all appropriate regulators and neighbouring municipalities have been notified and they are in communication with the Ministry of Energy and Resources to update them on progress.
“We are undertaking a proactive communications plan with regularly updating residents living within a five-kilometre radius of the facility.”
However, residents battlefordsNOW spoke to Tuesday said they were frustrated by a lack of communication from Cenovus with the whole community. The well release has caused a strong odor and some residents have experienced headaches as a result.
One person, who didn’t want to be named, said they heard from area farmers that oil was coming up through the ground in some pastures. Another said they were worried about what was happening to the groundwater.
“How long was it penetrating the ground before it [the oil] decided to come up?”, said the resident. “I’m disappointed with the lack of information coming out of Cenovus about what’s going on.”
The resident who submitted this photo of a local pasture said oil has come up through these holes in the ground, although it’s not known exactly when these holes appeared.
Once the release is resolved, Cenovus said it will undertake a thorough investigation into the cause and use what it learn to improve operations.
