Public meeting in Wheatley addresses evacuation rumours

A public meeting featuring Chatham-Kent officials, the Wheatley Task Force, and gas and oil well expert Theresa Watson attracted about 30 residents to the Village Resource Centre in Wheatley on Thursday, August 8.

The meeting was held to explain to residents the work ahead as the municipality readies to explore the possibility of a second well underneath the Erie Street North blast zone.

Officials were quick to expel any rumours or reports that further evacuations were expected as work progresses on the site.

In recent weeks, the remaining buildings in the blast zone from the August 2021 explosion were demolished to ground level and the area cleaned up.

Now, work must begin on excavating those foundations and basements, but not until they are assured there is no danger of a repeat explosion or gas emissions above an acceptable level.

Theresa Watson, an expert in the field from Alberta, has been involved since the early days post-explosion and led the casual meeting, explaining what work will be done and how the results and steps of that work will be communicated to nearby residents.

She was joined by Chatham-Kent Assistant Fire Chief Neil Woods, Chatham-Kent Director of Public Works Ryan Brown and Public Works Supervisor Paul Walker. 

The group answered questions from the residents in attendance about various topics and they presented a storyboard display outlining the work that is ahead to bring Wheatley back to normal.

When asked about a timeline to get Wheatley to the point where they could plan development, Watson said it really depends on what they find beneath the ground.

“It could be as soon as six months or as long as two years,” she said, explaining that if they find a water well, it would be plugged, but if they find a gas well, they would begin by casing it instead of plugging it.

Casing it involves having an open path to the well so mitigation work can be done and revisited if something needs to be done in the future.

A recent drone survey done in the uptown area was the subject of a few questions, to which Watson assured the residents that it was done to set a baseline of levels throughout the area.

She explained that they wanted to make sure they haven’t impacted anything else with the ongoing work.

The prime contractor this time is 360 Engineering and Environmental Consulting, who has procured the services of Theresa Watson and other contractors to get the work done.

General construction noise will be audible during normal working hours, Monday through Friday. If no hazard is encountered, they expect the work to take two weeks, with minimal short-term road closures.

They’ve identified three possible paths to the future work.

Path 1: Nothing notable is found.  If nothing notable is found during the work, residents can expect all machinery to move out after the work is complete. The site will be returned to gravel or soil. A report from Theresa Watson should be complete within weeks.

Path 2: A well is found with no risk to the public. If a well is found that is not emitting any significant gas, the project team will assess the work to be done. This may include bringing in a small drilling rig to plug the well, similar to the work performed on the blast site previously. Some short-term road closures may happen.

Path 3: A well is found, emitting H2S gas or other hazard. If this happens, the emergency response plan will be activated, with the response consistent with the hazard presented. A large oil and gas rig will be brought in to re-enter the well and work will then turn into a 24/7 operation, producing significant noise and light.

“Communication will be of utmost importance and as things happen with the plan, we will be posting updates to Let’s Talk Chatham-Kent, “said Paul Walker.

Brown says they are aware that residents were unhappy with the regularity or speed of updates during the post-explosion phase and they have developed a better way to communicate with the residents and keep them updated.

Much of Southwestern Ontario’s water supply is fed through a Guelph well formation —  a fractured, dolomite bedrock formation.

They believe they are dealing with a Guelph well formation in Wheatley but it’s yet to be determined whether it’s water or gas.

Watson says there are gas pockets that could be as deep as 350-400 metres.

Officials are confident that the testing they are doing is going to answer the question quickly and then they can get to work on fixing it.

“The reason we’re doing this work is because if we don’t, it’s going to stay like that forever,” said Ryan Brown.

Watson says that when the work begins, residents will be aware due to the equipment necessary to do the work — and depending on the well itself, the equipment may be different too, but she is quick to point out that they don’t expect to have to evacuate.

“We may have do a ‘windows and doors response’,” she said. “That’s a possibility if we think we are getting close to something.”

Watson explained that they would ask residents in the area to stay inside and close their windows and doors, “probably for a couple hours.”

“Everything we’ve done with monitoring, we don’t anticipate anything substantial,” she added. “It would only be precautionary.”

“Through all of this time, we’ve never got any readings that weren’t inside the blast zone,” added Walker.

Meanwhile, the Wheatley Task Force is teaming up with Wheatley’s new Economic Development Officer, Kyra Knapp, to keep the public further informed about development ideas and plans for Wheatley once the gas is mitigated.

They are holding a second Community Consultation on Saturday, August  17 from 10 am to 1 pm at the Resource Centre and welcome everyone out to take part in the planning process and enjoy a community barbecue.

The Task Force has published their August newsletter, which contains plenty of information on the timeline expected once the engineers and experts are finished with their excavation work.