News | DrumhellerMail

Gas pressure incident at AltaGas Bankview regulator station

    A gas utility pressure incident occurred in the Town of Drumheller early evening Monday, May 10.
    Drumheller Fire Department and AltaGas crews responded to the incident which was called in just prior to 5:00 p.m.
    AltaGas Utilities, vice president of Operating Services Bill Emmerzael, told The Mail the incident occurred at the Bankview pressure regulating station in south Drumheller.
    “There is a process used to determine where the problem is, then it is isolated as soon as it’s found, repaired, and put back into service.
    "One of the sensing regulators, called a pilot regulator, was causing the over pressure to occur by not reducing the pressure by the amount that it should have.”
    When asked if there was any danger to the public, Mr. Emmerzael said, “Given that gas is lighter than air, as soon as it comes out of the stack on the relief valve, none of it comes back down.”
    “The equipment worked as it was supposed to when the relief valves went. That was the right thing to have happened so that’s the good part.”
    What happens now is that piece that actually generated the problem, will be taken out of service and analysed as to what may have occurred there and a new piece get put into place,” according to Mr. Emmerzael.
    There was no disruption in natural gas service to customers and it took about 20 minutes to isolate the problem and repair it.

See the valley again during Be a Tourist in Your Own Town

    Spring is a great time for residents to reacquaint themselves with all the valley has to offer.
    This is the fourth year for Be a Tourist in Your Own Town Week. The promotion, an initiative of The Town of Drumheller is slated for May 17 to 23. The promotion is aimed at creating local awareness for the products, services and attractions that Drumheller has to offer.
    “Drumheller is the heart of the Canadian Badlands and we realize the importance of our location,” said Mayor Bryce Nimmo. “Our local residents are wonderful ambassadors for the valley and they do a great job hosting over 400,000 visitors every year. We look forward to being tourists in our own Town.”
    The promotion comes at the cusp of the tourism season in Drumheller. Organizers encourage residents to see and experience what the valley has to offer. It is a great time to take a look at some of the sites, museums and businesses that many have become accustomed to passing by.
    Economic Development officer Ray Telford says they have moved back the week to a later date this year, with designs on creating more awareness.
    “Each year it gets a little bit bigger and a little better,” said Telford. Usually it was the first week of May. We decided to hold it over the long weekend. The reason we did this was for the summer worker season. At the beginning of May often a lot of companies didn’t have their employees hired, so at least now they will be prepared for the May Long Weekend.”
Along with the promotion, the town also runs a familiarization tour that businesses can sign their employees up to take. This way those in the service industry can serve their customers in a more efficient manner. Rather than just directing visitors to a point on a map, workers can provide first hand accounts of the sites to help those with questions.
    “It’s to get people more aware that we live in a wonderful place for tourism, and a lot of us don’t get to see what is in our own backyards,” said Telford.

Group critical of Golden Hills International Program

    A group in the Acme Linden area is raising concerns about costs of the Golden Hill School Division’s International program.
    ALIVE (Acme Linden Inspiring Visionary Education) raised an alarm bell after reading the Golden Hills School Division revenue and expenses breakdown from September 1 to November 30 of last year. It showed a $147,000 deficit for the program in the first three months of the school year. They wrote an open letter to chair of the School Divisions’ Board asking what is the “real cost of the Golden Hills International Student program?”
    “This Golden Hills report is not consistent with the past message that this International Student program is a major cash generator for the school division,” said the letter signed by Dave Price on behalf of ALIVE. “These points are without touching on the non-financial but critical question of the extra workload for the teachers and fellow students where these students are in their classrooms.”
    Ron Kenworthy says the numbers quoted in the report are correct, however, he says there is a note following the breakdown, which says the “statement includes revenue on a cash basic for all departments except for International Student Services and Federal Government where revenue is recognized based on invoiced amounts.”
    “They are talking about actual dollar amounts as if everything that was due was paid today,” Kenworthy told The Mail after being alerted to the letter. “We don’t get everything all neat and tidy.”
    This means while the expenses to run the program accumulate daily, the revenues come in at different times. This is explained further within the report.
    “Although revenue is received in unequal amounts (most in September, January and June) expenses are distributed more evenly.”
    It also states International Students Services has invoiced $4.2 million, however some students may not receive visas to enter Canada, thus the actual funds received will likely vary from the invoiced amount. The revenue reported in the quarterly report represents the visa approved students invoiced to date.
    “You are always going to have variances in quarterly reports because income does not come in exactly when expenses occur,” said Kenworthy. “We’re not losing money on this program. At some point in the year it could show a loss, but by the end of the year you are okay.”
    The ALIVE letter also raises the point that only $12,808 is directed to certified salaries and benefits to serve 179 students in the program. The letter concludes the cost represents 2/3 of one teacher for 179 students.
    “How can less than one certified teacher cover 179 students in a variety of schools?
    If we said 179 students would have closer to 10 certified teachers, then the additional cost would be over $210,000 for the first three months,” the letter states.
    Kenworthy responds, “If we were teaching those students in a completely separate program you would need 10 teachers to handle it, but they are intermixed with other students in the classrooms.
    He says integration is one of the strengths of the program.
    “So that helps us pay for teachers for local kids too,” said Kenworthy.
    This is not the first time ALIVE has been critical of the Golden Hills School Division. In February they issued a press release regarding the board’s process for allocating representation when amending the number of electoral wards.

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