Page 12 - NorthAmOil Week 11 2023

NorthAmOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES NorthAmOil

Ottawa orders Imperial to halt

leak at Kearl oil sands mine

ALBERTA CANADIAN federal inspectors have ordered they would improve communication on issues
Imperial Oil to immediately halt seepage from such as the Kearl leak and would share test
a tailings pond at its Kearl oil sands mine. The results.
inspectors have said that the leak has likely been Imperial issued a statement on March 15
harmful to wildlife. that it was progressing with seep mitigations
The leak has existed since at least May 2022 and nearing completion of clean-up from the
but only came to light publicly in February 2023. drainage pond overflow. The company said that
At that time, Alberta authorities denied that its current monitoring and water sampling data
wildlife had been harmed. had been stable and showed no impacts to local
The wastewater is coming from a pond that waterways or drinking water and that there con-
contains high levels of arsenic and dissolved iron tinued to be no indication of harm of wildlife or
at Kearl, which is located around 70 km from fish.
Fort McMurray in northern Alberta and pro- Imperial had previously described the seep as
duces 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil. a “small amount” of industrial wastewater that
“Based on information enforcement officers had not entered local waterways.
have to date, the seep is believed to be delete- Additionally, a separate 5.3mn litre overflow
rious, or harmful, to fish,” said Environment came from a drainage pond on January 31, 2023.
Canada’s spokesperson, Nicole Allen. Federal Imperial had made “significant progress” on
officials have said that leaks such as Imperial’s the overflow both on and in close proximity to
should be reported to them within 24 hours. the Kearl operations lease, the Calgary-based The federal
On March 15, a federal provincial industry company said on March 6.
working group was announced in order to accel- “We are responding to the direction that was and Alberta
erate remediation of the Kearl spill. The federal provided by [Environment and Climate Change
and Alberta governments have been under pres- Canada] officials following their visit to Impe- governments
sure to address the issue. rial’s Kearl site last week and we have installed
Tension had risen between the provincial surface water pumps in the area to prevent the have been
and federal governments and First Nations have seep from entering a fish-bearing waterbody,” under pressure
reacted angrily. an Imperial spokesperson told Canadian Press.
“It is very worrisome that for over half a year, “Monitoring to date at this waterbody indicates to address the
the Alberta regulator did not communicate with there has been no change in baseline conditions.
[Environment Canada], nor did they commu- We plan to collect the fish from this waterbody issue.
nicate with the indigenous nations,” Canadian as a precaution and instal a fish barrier to prevent
Minister of Environment Steven Guilbeault said migration.”
last week. Critics have said that Imperial’s lack of report-
Imperial said it had immediately reported the ing to authorities underscores weak regulation of
leak to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) and the oil and gas industry in Alberta, Canada’s oil
to indigenous communities. But a spokesper- patch.
son for Alberta Minister of Environment Sonya The oil sands produced an estimated 1.36
Savage has said that Alberta Environment and trillion cubic metres of tailings water in 2020,
Alberta Energy were first briefed by the AER on according to the AER. New federal regulations
February 7. are anticipated in 2025 so that treated wastewater
Guilbeault and Savage met recently and said can be released into waterways.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 11 16•March•2023