Home Heating Oil Tanks

Prevention: Key to Eliminating Oil Spills

Thousands of underground, above-ground and basement heating oil tanks reside in residential homes in Saanich.  There are also many decommissioned oil tanks remaining in ground.  Data is not readily for a definitive number of tanks in Saanich.  Each and every one of these tanks creates the potential of an oil spill.

Provincial legislation provides guidelines for removing, abandoning and temporality taking a residential oil tank out of service.  Real estate purchases include the location of underground tanks and remediation of environmental contamination.  Saanich municipal regulations have installation requirements and permit requirements for removal.  There are no requirements for maintenance or protection for the environment from an oil spill.  An abundance of information is available on spill response and cleanup but little if none on prevention.

In late 2011 a fuel oil tank spill caused catastrophic damage to the fish bearing Colquitz Creek.  Since then there have been a number of smaller spills all requiring remediation and hazmat clean up.  Oil tank or fuel line failure results in oil traveling via perimeter drains into the natural watercourses causing impacts to fish mortality.    

A fuel oil tank is a part of a home that homeowners give little thought to.  The furnace is generally serviced annually to insure efficient operation of the heating of the home.  Albeit of equal importance the lowly oil tank resides in a corner of the basement or camouflaged behind a hedge in the yard or even buried in ground. 

In recent years the focus has been on replacing old oil tanks with double walled tanks.  A new oil tank and a regularly serviced furnace build an air of confidence that a potential oil leak has been averted.  However the tank like the furnace is only part of the system.  The furnace and oil tank are connected by a 3/8 inch fuel line.  The fuel line is not encased in a protective sleeve as required with natural gas.  The fuel line is vulnerable to being severed as in the case of the recent oil spills. 

A simple oil spill can become a complicated remediation of damage to the home and environmental cleanup and restoration.  Homeowners need to become better educated on the potential environmental and financial impacts of an oil spill.  A little prevention could save homeowners thousands of dollars in cleanup costs and fines and help save local streams or shoreline from damage.

Prevention is the solution.  Residents, oil and insurance companies and Saanich municipality working together proactively can achieve the solution of prevention.  Let’s all be part of the solution. 

I welcome your suggestions.  If you have an oil tank I would like to hear from you.  Please contact Councillor Vicki Sanders. 

mailto:Email:vicki_sanders@telus.net or telephone: 250-592-0865. 

For Saanich oil tank fact sheet:  www.saanich.ca/living/environment/pdf/otank.pdf 

Support the Ban of Bottle Water in Saanich Municipal Facilities

The following recommendation from Saanich's Environmental Advisory Committee will be going to Saanich Council in February (date to follow): Forward letters to clerksec@saanich.ca

Cooler, pricier pavement easier on the atmosphere

July 31, 2008

Saanich is trying a hot new pavement product for the second time.

And it's really not all that hot, says Trevor Howells, a quality controller with Capital City Paving. That's cool, because the new method is easier on the evironment.

"There's reduction of emissions," Howells said. "We reduce nitrogen dioxide by – it varies – by about 58 per cent, carbon dixide is reduced by 46 per cent ... and sulphur dioxide by 81 (per cent)."

The lessened impact on the environment is the whole point and why the municipality worked with Capital City Paving to patch up a section of Arbutus Road almost exactly one year after paving Maplewood Road with warm mix pavement.

Warm mix has less greenhouse gas emissions than hot mix because it's cooler. The warm stuff reaches a temperature of 100-120 C, in comparison to hot mix, which reaches 140-160 C.

Less energy is required to heat it and less oil is used in the heating, Howells said. It also takes less time to pave, easing the time of congestion traditionally caused by road work.

Warm mix doesn't require cooling time before compacting. The lower temperature also poses less risk to paving crews. Warm mix, which is relatively new to the North American paving market costs more than hot mix

Churchgoers try hand as dumpster divers

By Roszan Holmen - Saanich News - June 24, 2008

Trevor Smith, Councillor Vicki Sanders, Reverend Karen Dickey
and Glenys Verhulst pick the garbage at St. Aidan's United Church.

Parishioners of St. Aidan's United Church slipped on rubber gloves, boots and old clothes to dive into the dumpster last weekend.

"It's a horrible thing to think about doing but it's the only way to find out what's going wrong," said parishioner and Saanich councillor Vicki Sanders.

The church's green committee set out to conduct an audit on the waste generated from church events, rental groups and thrift shop.

"We just had to bring attitudes of curiosity to the garbage," said Glenys Verhulst, who organized the dive behind the church at 3703 St. Aidan's St.

The goal is to reduce waste and save money on the garbage collection fee, currently at $108 per month.

After sorting through all the bags on large plastic tarps on Saturday, the team found that only one small bag's worth of trash belonged in the dumpster.

"We discovered that 97 per cent of the kitchen waste could have been diverted from the landfill," said Sanders. "It was unbelievable the amount of paper towels and coffee grinds."

Already a group of volunteers take some plastics and styrofoam home to recycle or to the mobile recycling depots. To catch more waste, the church is considering hiring its garbage collector to take away recyclables.

The church is seeking volunteers to compost kitchen waste for its garden. It's also looking into energy-efficient light bulbs and installing another bike rack.

"We do pretty well ... but we have a lot of space to grow," said Verhulst.

Saanich Carbon Neutral Donations Tax Deductible -- A First For Local Government

Can’t decide where to spend your Carbon Action Dividend? The District of Saanich just made it easier for its residents to make that call.

The new Saanich web-based Carbon Calculator allows residents to estimate their household carbon footprint, donate to a Saanich Carbon Neutral Fund and immediately receive a tax-deductible receipt for income tax purposes.

The first contributors to the Carbon Neutral fund were Municipal Councillors Vicki Sanders and Leif Wergeland, co-chairs of Saanich’s Joint Advisory Committee on Climate Change. Councillors Sanders and Wergeland displayed their Carbon Neutral Tax-Deductible receipts, June 26th, 2008 at the launch of the Carbon Calculator.

“Climate Change is happening and we need to reduce our carbon footprint, but in the meantime, it is important to offset our CO2 emissions.” Says Vicki Sanders, Chair of Saanich’s Environmental Advisory Committee.

The funds raised will be specifically dedicated to carbon-reducing projects within the District of Saanich.

“As far as we know, Saanich is the first municipality in Canada to create such a tax-deductible Carbon Neutral programme. We hope it will help us all to become much more aware of our carbon footprint.” says Saanich Councillor, Leif Wergeland, Chair of Saanich’s Planning, Transportation and Economic Development Committee.

The new calculator and receipt system will generate funds to supplement Saanich’s new Carbon Neutral Reserve Fund. $90,100 was placed in this fund in the 2008 Budget to offset the estimated 6,000 Tonnes of Co2 emitted annually by Saanich Municipal operations.

“There are so many carbon offset programmes out there, it’s easy to become confused. Many of them take your money and spend it to remote projects without clear financial accountability.

Saanich’s reserve fund will only support carbon-reducing projects within the District and all spending is subject to legislated audits and public disclosure. “That accountability and localized spending will be appreciated by our residents.” says Vicki Sanders.

Saanich Doles Out Enviro Awards

June 04, 2008 Erin Cardone

Solar power, engineered by a local company, is making the municipality’s infrastructure a whole lot greener. Carmanah Technologies will receive a Saanich Environmental Award Monday for its solar technology. Carmanah’s solar panels are installed on some crosswalk beacons in Saanich.
The technology allows the devices to operate independent from the power grid, using clean, renewable energy, says Coun. Vicki Sanders, chair of the Environmental Advisory Committee.
Three other businesses or organizations and three individuals will receive awards before next Monday’s council meeting.

Guy Dauncey will receive the Sustainability Award for his written and spoken works that “develop a positive vision of a sustainable future,” Sanders said. Dauncey is president of the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association, executive director of the Solutions Project, publisher of the EcoNews and author of 11 books.

This is the ninth year that the Environmental Awards have been doled out. People can nominate someone for an award every year. The Environmental Advisory Committee hopes to see more nominations for the next batch of awards. “We often get the same people year after year because they do such wonderful work,” Sanders said.

The award winners this year are:
Individual Citizen: Ms. Judy Spearing
Volunteer Organization: Mt. Tolmie Conservancy Association
Business/Commercial: Carmanah Technologies
Youth Group: Reynolds Green Group
Biodiversity: Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society
Sustainability: Mr. Guy Dauncey
Long-term Environmental Achievement: Ms. Pam Sinclair

Battery recycling could be better

Saanich News
May 14, 2008

Coun. Vicki Sanders says the Capital Regional District needs to develop a better battery recycling system to make the process more convenient.
Recycling batteries is too inconvenient, says Saanich Coun. Vicki Sanders.

Only two per cent of household batteries are recycled, meaning 98 per cent are being thrown into the garbage, leaving open the possibility for heavy metals and chemicals to leak into the soil or water systems.

Sanders put forward a recommendation that Saanich council ask the Capital Regional District to provide a more convenient drop-off or pick-up system to make battery recycling more attractive.

“The options for battery disposal aren’t convenient, therefore explaining the large numbers ending up at the Hartland landfill,” Sanders said. “Convenient recycling is obviously the key to success.”

CRD-run Hartland landfill currently operates a battery recycling program. Most batteries that come in are automotive types, made of lead acid. There’s no on-site recycling for household-grade batteries, said manager of operations Tom Watkins, but those batteries are collected and shipped off-site for disposal.

Sanders said she’d like to see a regional movement for battery recycling, with several drop-off or collection sites in each of the 13 municipalities.