GHG compliance monitoring for oil sands facility

About this project

client
Confidential
location
Alberta
cost
$550,000 (Barr's fees, CAD)
completion date
Ongoing

Since 2007, the government of Alberta has required oil sands companies that emit over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 annually to measure and report emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from their operations. For an oil sands company, Barr is providing annual fugitive GHG emissions measurement with flux chambers at more than 250 locations across the site, including mine faces, sand disposal areas, reclaimed areas, and tailings basins.

After a quality review by our data analysis team, the field and lab data are used to develop emission factors for each of the site's distinct areas of activity. To delineate zones with different ore characteristics, we use GIS mapping of the mine’s elevation data, along with geographic coordinates of advancing mine extraction work. The material-specific emission factors are applied to the total area of each delineated zone of material in which mining activity took place the previous calendar year, which enables us to calculate the total annual fugitive emissions from mining. Mining emissions are combined with tailings-pond and point-source emissions from upgrader operations to determine the total annual GHG emissions reported by the facility to the province. Barr continues to assist this company and others in the oil sands and coal-mining sectors with air emissions monitoring and reporting.

Key team members

Blaine Renkas

Vice President – Senior Environmental Consultant
Senior Environmental Consultant

Dean Myers

Senior Environmental Scientist

Vanessa Warren

Senior Chemical Engineer

Related oil sands facilities projects

Landfill-gas monitoring at remediated dump to support brownfield redevelopment
Stationary-source evaluation for asphalt plants
Pre-acquisition environmental due diligence review
Testing and optimization of fine-tailings drying technologies
Air dispersion modeling for distributed-generation plant
Landscape master plan for watershed district
O&M manual for green-infrastructure stormwater BMPs
Design and prioritization of spillway gate repairs
Siting and permitting for saltwater disposal wells
Engineering design for HDD pipeline replacement under highway
Incident energy and arc flash hazard analyses of three facilities
Natural-resources management plan for suburban park
Feasibility design and inspections of an urban stormwater-management tunnel
Dam safety consultations for SaskPower
Engineering services for pipeline reversal
Mine closure and reclamation
Environmental integration support for Wamsutter Crude Oil System
Monitoring of constructed wetland for groundwater remediation
Capture-efficiency testing for ethanol production facility
Chemical and biological monitoring of test ponds
Stormwater storage facility for major Minneapolis interstate artery
Water-quality and sediment-dredging study to restore a phosphorus-impaired lake
Waste-gas scrubber design engineering for taconite pellet plant
EMIS implementation and related assistance
Expansion of landfill-gas-fired power generation facility
RICE applicability analysis and audit
Permitting and environmental review for pipeline terminal expansion
Inspection and repair of urban stormwater tunnels
Bridge movement monitoring
Engine compliance tool update
Natural resources master plan
Embankment stabilization along Highway 73
Flood forecast mapping for city's emergency response and planning efforts
Air-quality permitting and compliance support at pipeline terminals
Environmental permitting and compliance support at terminals
Improvements to municipal flood-risk-protection system
Monitoring and maintenance of remediation system at wood-treating site
Groundwater-surface water study of McKenna Lake
Monitoring of end-pit lake at oil sands mine
Highway 55 storm-tunnel inspection
Non-segregating tailings deposition study
Highwall stability assessment
Infrastructure inspection program for Minnesota watershed district
Air-quality-permitting support for refinery assets
Engineering design for crude-oil-terminal pipe rack
Whitewater State Park stream restoration
Hennepin County sustainable landscape guidelines
Geotechnical deformation and failure modeling of fine tailings capping
Engineering design for pipeline pump stations and terminals
Spillway design for iron-ore-mining and mineral-processing facility
Water quality and ecological improvements to an urban lake
Developing health assessment tools for wind-turbine towers and foundations
Hydrology and hydraulic modeling of a tunnel system
Concept-level design of wastewater discharge option
Vapor-mitigation implementation and maintenance at business center
Environmental review and permitting for natural-gas-distribution projects
Minnehaha Park lower glen restoration
Flood mitigation at refinery
Design of an LED lighting system for a downtown streetscape
Fast-track realignment of a storm sewer
Municipal drinking-water wellhouse evaluation and design
Restoration of trout habitat in Vermilion River
Response to denatured ethanol release
Dispersion modeling at five ethanol production facilities
Berm-failure study at saltwater disposal well site
Remedial investigation, negotiation, and design for Superfund site
Stormwater-development reviews for an urban watershed district
Vacuum system design and installation at power plant
Design and permitting for WISCO Oilfield Special Waste Landfill
Chlor-alkali process design
Groundwater modeling for water-supply wellfield expansion
Structural and electrical engineering for coal-dryer load-out improvements
Environmental permitting and compliance support for a refinery
AFFF containment upgrades evaluation
Air permitting for petroleum refinery’s waxy-crude processing project
Environmental review for natural gas pipelines
Poplar Bluff substation upgrade
Expansion-related permitting and review assistance
Installation design for alternative energy facility
Permitting for greenfield renewable diesel production facility in Utah
Transmission line upgrades for reliable power delivery
Permitting for the conversion of a petroleum refinery to renewable diesel production
arc-flash analysis at Coal Creek Station
Willow River Dam rock arch rapids design services
Environmental services for cathodic protection facilities in Michigan
Transaction due diligence for oil and gas assets
Creating ESG clarity for a petroleum company
ESG policy review and advisory services
ESG framework for midstream oil and gas company
Permitting assistance for partial repowering of wind facility
Environmental review and permitting for windfarm repowering
Air-quality services for steel company
Design for spillway replacement at Bond Falls Dam
Hastings levee certification
Analysis of microbial ecology in selenium bioreactor
Statistical analysis of coal-silo vibrations
Business risk assessment of species at risk in oil sands region
Upgrades to mineral processing plant
Calculating stormwater fees via remote-sensing technology
Gate upgrade at Island Lake Dam
Field review and permitting for pipeline replacement
Environmental field review and MPSC Act 9 support
Acid-generating rock identification and mitigation
Hydrogen generator process skid design
Gas processing equipment, outage procedure and fitness-for-service evaluation
Design of gas storage well pipelines and well pads
Pipeline and facility outage procedure
Pressure control valve methanol-injection engineering study
Blaine water treatment plant 4
Permitting and nondegradation services for sugar-beet facility
Cathodic protection design for pipeline projects
Grassy Point and Kingsbury Bay habitat restoration
Engineering and design for the rehabilitation of Karey Dam
Tailings dam safety inventory and semiquantitative risk analysis
Park and water-feature evaluation and renovation
Rock-fall protections at Interstate State Park
Geotechnical engineering and environmental services for oil refinery solar farm
Air permitting assistance for manufacturing coating facility
Redesign and optimization of crystallizer piping
Permitting and field review for natural gas pipeline replacement
Pipeline route permitting assistance
Multi-phase levee alterations for the City of Des Moines, Iowa
Reasonably available control technology analysis for refinery
Third-party dam safety review of tailings-storage facility
Air permitting for refinery conversion from petroleum to renewables