EDMONTON - After a two-year struggle, Brian Labrecque is starting the new year a little more confident about resolving the air pollution problems that left his parents ill and forced seven family members from their homes.

He said two independent studies ordered by the Alberta Energy Regulator appear to back up long-standing concerns shared by Labrecque and five families living near 86 tall, black storage tanks used to heat bitumen, 40 kilometres south of Peace River.

“We have some scientific backing for our issues and the actions we’ve taken,” said Labrecque, whose family called this fall for a shutdown of Calgary-based Baytex Energy’s bitumen operation until the pollution issues are addressed.

One study by a Calgary geochemist discovered a higher sulphur content in the bitumen in the region’s Reno field, the site of Baytex operations. That could be a factor in odours that cause dizziness and other health problems in nearby residents, it says.

A second study did an inventory of all sources of emissions on the Baytex site and pointed to release of fumes from the open-vented storage tanks as “conspicuously the most likely source of the odour impacts.”

The families for months have been asking Baytex to install a system to prevent vapours from escaping the tanks as the bitumen is heated to about 80 C to melt the product for trucking.

Baytex is complying with all regulations, director of stakeholder relations Andrew Loosley said Thursday.

The company is also “looking forward” to making some improvements in the new year, he added.

Baytex wants to install a better system to collect the natural gas — called casing gas — that escapes when bitumen is pulled from the ground at the wellhead. That “in turn will lead to tank-top improvements” by allowing the company to collect natural gas vapours, he said. But the families want the company to collect other fumes that escape when the bitumen is heated and vented into the atmosphere.

To that end, they head to court next week to seek an injunction to halt Baytex’s operations in what could be a precedent-setting case.

While the energy regulator occasionally hands out stop-work orders to companies, it declined in this case. The AER says it has no authority, as there are no regulations governing emissions from bitumen storage tanks.

The families’ decision to head to court is a bold move, said their St. Albert lawyer, Keith Wilson.

The basis for the case is the common law principle that no party can “interfere unreasonably with enjoyment of property,” Wilson said. “In Alberta, we all need to tolerate some level of impact from oil and gas, but this is too much.”

Labrecque said the families were pleased the regulator agreed last July to conduct a public inquiry, but it will be many months before recommendations are made or action is taken, he noted.

The AER called for several scientific studies as part of the inquiry, which will hold hearings in Peace River starting Jan. 21.

Like other companies in the area, Baytex uses the relatively new CHOPS process — cold heavy oil production with sand. The oil and sand mixture is augered out of the ground, put into tall tanks and heated with burners to separate the mixture and soften the bitumen.