1/🧵 37 oil sands tailings ponds containing 1.4 TRILLION litres of waste have been a catastrophe waiting to happen for decades.
This story is the canary in the coal mine.
#oilsands #ABleg #YMM
2/A leak of industrial wastewater from @ImperialOil's Kearl oil sands plant 70 kms north of Fort McMurray on May 19, 2022. Imperial reported it to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER).
Area includes muskeg, forested public lands, wildlife, and a "fish-bearing waterbody."
3/"...from June to August 2022, w/regulatory oversight from the AER, Imperial conducted a geochemistry study to determine the source and pathway of Release 1..." which contained "dissolved iron, total arsenic, F2 hydrocarbons, sulphate, total sulphide..."
aer.ca/providing-information/news-and-resources/news-and-announcements/announcements/announcement-march-02-2023
4/On Nov 29, Imperial confirmed that "wastewater is seeping from its External Tailings Area (ETA) through a common fill layer placed during construction, mixing with shallow groundwater, and coming to surface at locations on the Site and Off-site."
This is bad, but...
5/Then on Feb 4, 5.3 million litres of industrial wastewater overflowed a storage pond set up to hold seepage from a tailings pond.
How did that much wastewater seep from the tailings pond to begin with?
Tailings ponds have been leaking for years:
youtu.be/cIBF4YJUNAo
6/The AER demanded a communications plan by Feb 10.
Finally, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation was told about the spill.
Chief Alan Adam said the Nation received only one call from Imperial about the earlier leak. He called it a "cover up."
cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-first-nation-angry-at-imperial-s-silence-while-tailings-pond-leaked-for-9-months-1.6766007
7/Chief Adam has a point. Imperial knows exactly what its obligations are in this situation. Even if it could argue that the first release was a grey area, why didn't it act out of an abundance of caution and concern for human health?
twitter.com/ACFN_KaiTaile/status/1631350628738818051?s=20
8/"Imperial Oil has submitted and is required to implement a communications plan providing for regular updates to potentially affected parties, including Indigenous communities such as ACFN," says the AER.
Why no follow up by the AER to ensure communication occurred?
9/"Time and time again we have been told to trust that the Alberta Government will protect our lands and waters and that industry has our best interests in mind, and once again this trust has been broken," Eriel Deranger, ACFN Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action.
10/The NWT govt found out about the spill via media stories.
"This lack of transparency and information sharing from our Alberta partners is not an isolated incident, which increases our frustration in this matter," Env Min Shane Thompson said.
gov.nt.ca/en/newsroom/shane-thompson-demands-transparency-gnwt-left-dark-about-alberta-oil-sands-spills
11/AB Env Min @sonyasavage said she and Premier @ABDanielleSmith are "monitoring the situation."
She couldn't resist a dig at federal Env Min @s_guilbeault, who was "offered a briefing today by our government but did not take that opportunity.."
alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=86664A3CF806F-EB6A-80ED-D8031FFB58C660A4
12/UAlberta economics professor @andrew_leach raises an interesting issue: if the first release happened in May, why are the Premier and Env Min only being briefed almost a year later?
Savage was energy min until Smith became premier in August. How did she not know?
13/Guilbeault promised aid to the communities, including fresh water, pledged full cooperation from federal enforcement officers, said CANGov would require a clear remediation plan from the company and an explanation for the poor communications.
14/Well, how did Alberta get into this mess?
Nina Lothian, former fossil fuels director of the Pembina Institute, says industry and the AER have been unsuccessfully grappling with the tailings pond problem for decades.
Why haven't they succeeded?
youtu.be/h9sfhnkSJys
15/Bottom line: even though industry has spent hundred of millions searching for a solution, reclaiming tailings ponds has proven to be harder than expected.
But Dr Mohamed Gamal El-Din, engineering prof, @UAlberta, says it comes down to cost.
youtu.be/uFama9x1HXk
16/Dr. Vikram Yadav, assoc prof of Chemical Engineering at @ubcscience and CEO of Vancouver-based Tersa, says mining companies around the world are having similar problems.
His firm's process uses a microbe to remove metals and toxins from the tailings.
share.transistor.fm/s/19d3751a
17/It works in the lab, but now needs capital to fund a small-scale demonstration project, followed by a pilot, then full-scale commercialization.
He's confident his technology will work, but he's not the first to think he's solved this knotty problem.
19/Every expert I interview says there is plenty of good will within industry to solve it, but companies want a cost-effective solution.
Both ABGov and AER are reluctant to push too hard for fear of killing the golden goose of the Alberta economy.
20/So they let industry punt the issue down the road again and again, hoping for a technology breakthrough in the future.
There was AER Directive 74 in 2009. Deadlines came and went with no progress.
Directive 85 isn't likely to be any more successful.
aer.ca/providing-information/by-topic/tailings/tailings-management
21/ABGov's Mine Financial Security program is supposed to collect $$ from producers against future reclamation costs (estimated at $31 billion). It has ~$1 billion.
UCalgary lawyer @DrewYewchuk explains how UCP weakened an already weak program.
youtu.be/sFpMOao-8uc
22/AB govts have never been willing to force industry's hand.
And the AER has "given every reason not to trust that they have their eye on the public interest,” says @UCalgaryLaw professor Martin Olszynski.
Is AER "captured" by industry?
theglobeandmail.com/business/article-imperial-oil-water-leak-alberta/
23/At a glance:
*ABGov doesn't have the backbone to act, regardless of the party in power
*AER is far too cozy with industry.
*Industry wants an easy, cheap solution, which doesn't seem likely within a reasonable timeframe.
What to do?
24/Industry has no will to fix the tailings pond problem. That leaves either ABGov or CANGov.
Smith/Savage's response to the Kearl leak was pathetic. Smith's RStar program to give up to $20 billion to industry to clean up abandoned wells shows she is in industry's pocket.
25/Would an @albertaNDP govt under @RachelNotley have the fortitude to act?
Maybe, but she did nothing while premier from 2015 to 2019.
She called for an investigation of Kearl leak/spill, but no suggestion she would fix a broken system if NDP were govt.
twitter.com/RachelNotley/status/1631818560212471809
26/Can CANGov act? This question is fraught with political tension, as well as constitutional and regulatory uncertainty.
I'll interview experts in the coming week to explore the extent of the problem, potential solutions, and which actors in this sad drama need to lead.
27/Why not just shut down the oil sands b/c tailings pond, uber high GHGs, etc?
Because bitumen is a fantastic feedstock for advanced materials manufacturing.
It's too valuable to burn and should be used to make stuff.
energi.media/markham-on-energy/where-is-the-leadership-blueprint-for-a-21st-century-canadian-oil-gas-sector/
28/Oil sands need a rethink.
Current structure of the industry is designed for the 20th century.
Energy transition of the 21st century is creating a very different energy future.
Our choice: change how we extract/use bitumen or watch the sector decline.
youtu.be/bcbFV7nt5Tw
Markham Hislop
@politicalham
Journalist. Writes about the energy transition, tech, clean energy, politics/narrative, oil/gas. My job is to be accurate and to tell the truth. Full stop.