A boat travels past the Parkland Burnaby Refinery on Burrard Inlet at sunset in Burnaby, B.C., on Saturday, April 17, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A boat travels past the Parkland Burnaby Refinery on Burrard Inlet at sunset in Burnaby, B.C., on Saturday, April 17, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Burnaby stink was bad, but it didn’t violate air quality standards

Parkland fuel refinery said processing issue was the cause of Sunday’s odour

Metro Vancouver says an acrid odour that blanketed parts of the region on Sunday contained elevated contaminant levels, but didn’t breach pollution standards.

The regional federation of municipalities says it monitors emissions of particulates, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide from Burnaby’s Parkland fuel refinery, and air quality objectives for the contaminants weren’t exceeded.

However the air quality update says sulphur dioxide levels were higher than normal.

Metro Vancouver says there were “very few” complaints about odour related to the refinery on Monday, after receiving more than 100 from Vancouver and Burnaby residents on Sunday.

The refinery says it experienced an issue in one of its processing units on Sunday morning, resulting in the odour.

It says it informed Burnaby Fire Department and the RCMP, but no injuries were reported.

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Pollution and Air Quality