Federal, Alberta governments to study public notice process around oilsands tailings leak
CBC
The Alberta and federal governments say they will work together to understand what happened around a nine-month delay in notifying the public about toxic seepage from an oilsands tailings pond.
Alberta Environment Minister Sonya Savage and federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault "reiterated a dual commitment to review information exchange processes and committed to maintaining open communication channels with Indigenous communities in the area with updates on water sampling and other monitoring results," said a news release from the Alberta government on Wednesday.
The provincial and federal governments have committed to sharing test results from their separate environmental monitoring efforts, Savage said on her way into the legislature Wednesday.
"I think the more testing, the better," Savage said.
She also said her ministry sent its own water inspectors last week to the Kearl oilsands mine area, near Fort McKay in northeastern Alberta.
The province had thus far been relying on water quality testing done by the arms-length Alberta Energy Regulator (AER).
"I think multiple testing gives public confidence and public assurance that the water is safe," Savage said. "That the water has not entered waterways."
On Tuesday evening, Savage and Guilbeault discussed seepage and a leak from Imperial Oil's Kearl mine, which is about 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alta.
The seepage was discovered in May, but neither politician was told about it until nine months later. They learned of it from an environmental protection order issued by the AER after a second release of 5.3 million litres of oilsands wastewater at Kearl from a catchment pond.
"Minister Guilbeault underlined that Imperial Oil's own stated failures of communication were unacceptable and have raised broader concerns regarding the efficacy of [Alberta's] existing notification systems," said Kaitlin Power, Guilbeault's spokesperson.
Area First Nations have also said they were not updated after initial notification of discoloured water found on the site.
Savage has repeatedly promised to get to the bottom of how it took so long for news of the significant leaks to be released.
In a separate news release Wednesday, Guilbeault said Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers have told Imperial Oil it must immediate take action to stop the seepage to prevent it from entering a nearby waterbody and potentially harming fish.
The company said earlier this month that work was ongoing. In a March 6 news release, it says the seepage was primarily groundwater, rain and snow, with "a small amount of industrial wastewater."
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