Report - Agence canadienne d'évaluation environnementale

Assessing the risks related to the project
Exclusion zones would be established in compliance with Canadian, US and
European standards currently in force. These areas are established according to
minimal distances required between the terminal facilities and occupied or inhabited
elements of the built environment that surround it (residences, public assembly
buildings, schools, landlots which are amenable for construction, etc.) (Figure 9), i.e.:
– A 500-m radius around the unloading arms of the jetty head.
– A 100-m radius around the impoundment basin of the shoreline facilities.
– A 400-m radius around the LNG tanks and process facilities (LNG regasification).
An exclusion zone of 50 m around a berthed LNG tanker or the berthing wharf is also
planned for recreational boaters or excursionists. The proponent underscored the fact
that this zone would be a preventive measure to avoid the presence of potential
flammability sources during cargo transfer operations. According to him, this distance
corresponds to the width of a ship, knowing that motorized vessels which are kept
away in this manner are also at an elevation which is at least 1 m lower than the
ship’s bridge, and that natural gas leaks would quickly rise in the air. Lastly, he added
that comparable distances are currently in force at the Montoir-en-Bretagne LNG
terminal, for example (DQ79.5, p. 1).
The proponent also specified that larger-capacity Qflex LNG tankers would not
change the required exclusion zone limits in any way (DQ27.61).
Several participants during the hearing were of the opinion that these zones should be
bigger. In this respect, the proponent compared the proposed project exclusion radii
with those of other existing LNG terminals, or which are planned, and his conclusion
was that the risks and the exclusion areas are of the same magnitude
(Mr. Glenn Kelly, DT6, p. 79).
144 Rabaska Project – Implementation of an LNG Terminal and Related Infrastructure