A farmer in southwestern Manitoba worries toxic gases will drive him and his family from their home.
Bruce Campbell of Tilston, Man., wants to move his family to ensure his wife and children are not exposed to the gases. Manitoba Environment cannot pinpoint where the poisonous gas is coming from, but Campbell remains adamant the problem stems from a nearby oil battery.
“We want to get out of here as soon as we can,” said Campbell, 42, in an interview Jan. 5. “We’re still looking for another place to live.”
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Campbell’s oldest son, Allan, collapsed at the Tilston farm last August after being exposed to sulfur dioxide. The incident followed a string of other episodes, which the Campbell’s say suggest that toxic gases have assailed the farm for at least three years.
Manitoba Environment installed a sulfur dioxide monitor at the farm last summer. The monitor has detected no evidence of the gas since Allan collapsed Aug. 26, but it did discover high readings before then, which it said were likely caused by a source other than the oil battery.
“We’re going to continue to monitor, but we haven’t found anything at all,” said Bernie Chrisp, Manitoba Environment director for the Park-West region.
As well, Manitoba Energy and Mines reviewed the Tilston oil battery last year. The department’s findings suggest the battery poses no threat to livestock and people living in the area. The findings also showed no need to upgrade the battery and its flaring equipment.
“All the evidence suggests there is not an air quality problem with emissions from the (Tilston) battery,” said John Fox, chief petroleum engineer for Manitoba Energy and Mines.
But that’s of little comfort to Bruce Campbell. He believes a worker at the farm suffered exposure to gases last month. Red marks, which Campbell described as gas burns, appeared on the worker’s face in mid-December.
And, due to concerns about the gases, the Campbells opted to winter their cattle 15 kilometres from where they live. They blame toxic gases for the loss of 46 cattle in the past 20 months. Close to half those deaths involved aborted calves.
The farm yard sits about 1.5 kilometres east of an oil battery owned by Tundra Oil and Gas. The company burns off hydrogen sulfide at its facility there. When burned, hydrogen sulfide produces sulfur dioxide, a less poisonous gas.
Bob Puchniak, president of Tundra Oil and Gas, said his company is not to blame for the gases plaguing the Campbell family.
“We could produce about 100 times more gas than we are and still be comfortably within the air quality guidelines,” said Puchniak.
Puchniak wondered whether the Campbell family would hold a different point of view if they owned mineral rights to the land where they live. The land is owned by Bill Campbell, Bruce’s father.
“It’s unfortunate we have a landowner with a bee in his bonnet,” Puchniak said.
The Campbell family believes the province is suppressing information.
“There’s been a lot of health problems here,” said Bill Campbell, 68. “It’s a problem for people to fathom just what the heck’s going on.”
The senior Campbell has suffered several health problems in the past three years. He believes exposure to sulfur dioxide caused chest pains, headaches, muscle cramps, memory loss and lapses in his senses of hearing and smell.
The Campbells say gas from a nearby oil battery is making them sick. The Manitoba government says it can find no evidence of that.
