Canada’s Minister of Environment, Steven Guilbeault on Friday expressed worry over a months-long leak of hazardous tailings water from Imperial Oil’s (IMO.TO) Kearl oil sands mine in northern Alberta.
Guilbeault’s comments came a day after the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, a local Indigenous community downstream from the Kearl site, accused Imperial and the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) of failing to protect the public.
Since at least May of last year, industrial effluent with pollutants including arsenic and dissolved iron has been leaking from tailings ponds at the 240,000-barrel-per-day Kearl oil sands plant.
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The AER issued an environmental protection order after Imperial reported a separate leak of more than 5,000 cubic meters of tailings water from one of its holding ponds at the beginning of February.
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam claimed that the leaks were not discovered until after the spill last month.
“We need to see a clear remediation plan from the company and to better understand the apparent failures of communication for the notification of this spill,” Guilbeault said in a statement, adding his first thoughts were for the health and well-being of affected Indigenous communities.
Guilbeault stated that to determine the next steps under the Fisheries Act of Canada, federal enforcement agents will conduct an impartial examination.
Story was adapted from Reuters
