The recent decision by Prime Minister Mark Carney to fast-track a new oil export pipeline to the West Coast is adding urgency for Ottawa to finally decide what to do with a long-standing environmental issue plaguing the oilsands in Northern Alberta — what to do with tailings ponds.
Oil output in the region is set to grow and the Alberta government wants to double the amount of crude production.
Yet, ever since the first oilsands mine was built about 60 years ago, the industry has been banned from releasing any water. As a result, large tailings ponds throughout the region are filled with decades worth of industrial mining wastewater. The fluid is toxic and harmful to wildlife. For those who live in the region, they fear the harmful health effects, in addition to the impact on the environment.
All day, every day, every few seconds, air cannons blast on the edge of the tailings ponds to help deter birds, ducks and other wildlife from the water, in addition to dozens of makeshift scarecrows dressed in overalls and hard hats.
The problem is as big as 600,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools or the area of the Island of Montreal under three metres of water.
An aerial view of a tailings pond, which holds mining wastewater and contains various contaminants. (Bob Grieve/CBC)
The amount of tailings fluid continues to increase after growing by 50 per cent over a 10-year period from 2014 to 2024, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator.
As tailings ponds fill up, the industry is urgently pushing for government regulations allowing for the fluid to be treated and then released. At the same time, some Indigenous leaders are calling for oilsands production to slow down until this issue is properly resolved.
Tailings ponds are at capacity and no one wants more of the storage lakes built, said Alberta’s Environment Minister Grant Hunter, in an interview with CBC News in Fort McMurray.
“The solution isn’t just to keep doing nothing and put our head in the sand. The solution is to actually prove out the science,” he said. “We cannot say to industry, ‘we want you to double production,’ and then not give them the tools to be able to do proper treat-and-release.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney announces the proposed Pacific Link pipeline will be fast-tracked during an event in Fort McMurray, Alta., on Oct. 1. (Todd Korol/Reuters)
By the end of the year, the Alberta government plans to lay out exactly what quality standards have to be met for water to be released. Still, the waterways fall under federal jurisdiction, so it will be up to Ottawa to adopt those proposed regulations, suggest changes or keep the ban in place.
Companies insist they have the technology and expertise to treat tailings water. They just need the regulations to know what water quality standards have to be reached. Companies say they will never be able to properly clean up large amounts of land until the tailings ponds are addressed.
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“Treating and release is really critical to enabling the large-scale reclamation of these facilities,” said Claire Greenwood, a vice-president with Suncor Energy, while speaking at a recent energy conference in Fort McMurray.
“These tailings facilities are not meant to be permanent parts of the landscape in the region. We have full intention of actually turning those tailings ponds into reclaimed sites. And so that’s why we’re looking for that treatment release.”
The company rejected interview requests from CBC News and would not provide access to a water treatment demonstration facility near Fort McMurray.
From left: Suncor’s Claire Greenwood, Imperial’s Jessica Dillabough and Alberta Environment Minister Grant Hunter speak in favour of developing a treat-and-release policy for the industry, while speaking on a panel during the Oil Sands Expo in Fort McMurray on Sept. 16. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)
If treat-and-release is allowed, the water would be pumped into the Athabasca River, which flows directly north from Fort McMurray and the oilsands region to several Indigenous communities before the water eventually drains into the Northwest Territories and the Arctic Ocean.
For Lenny Hansen, the Athabasca River has always been a part of his life, since he was a kid growing up in Fort McMurray. He’s caught walleye, northern pike and other fish, with frequent sightings of other wildlife near the banks such as bears, moose and geese.
For 33 years, he worked in the oilsands. In retirement, he’s a tour guide taking visitors up the river in his boat.
For him, treat-and-release is not a concern.
“I think it’s a great idea and I’ve seen what they do. I think it’s a really good process,” said Hansen, a member of the Fort McMurray Métis District 17.
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Treating and releasing tailings pond water into the Athabasca River has alarmed some Indigenous leaders and their communities.
When representatives from Suncor Energy visited Fort Chipewyan last month, they hoped to demonstrate to the community how their treatment technology worked. Instead, they quickly left when they were greeted by protesters.
Chief Melody Lepine leads the Mikisew Cree First Nation (MCFN), which is based in the Fort Chipewyan region, north of Fort McMurray. She feels the provincial government is forcing her community to accept treat-and-release, especially after the federal and provincial governments signed their MOU this past summer.
Lepine said the protest against Suncor came from a feeling among residents that their concerns are being ignored. She said her First Nation would consider legal action if her community felt treat-and-release threatened Fort Chipewyan.
“This is not the first time where things have been forced, in terms of decisions made that impact us, that we have to deal with the consequences later,” she said.
“Exploring all of the options of how to reverse those decisions and activities would be definitely something we would seriously consider.”
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At least one Indigenous-led company in the region hopes to find an alternative. Tũ Nipi Water Solutions was recently given conditional approval of a $4.6 million provincial grant to begin researching other proposals for treating tailings.
The company’s CEO, Ron Quintal, hopes to find technology that can treat and reuse — not release — tailings water. He says the fear behind treat-and-release among Indigenous people is because of “generational trauma” associated with water.
There are fears that contamination from the oilsands has made its way into waterbodies and contributed to cancers in Fort Chipewyan, for instance. Lepine points to the 5.2 million litres of oilsands wastewater that overflowed from Imperial Oil’s Kearl Lake facility in 2023.
“We don’t drink the water in the community and that’s going back to that generational trauma,” said Quintal, who is also the former president of Fort McKay Métis Nation.
“Treat-and-release is not something that my ownership, my leadership and my community could ever support,” he said, describing debate about the issue as “white hot.”
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Lepine also wants to see industry groups and different levels of government pursue alternatives to treat-and-release. She says the only way MCFN would accept treat-and-release is if leadership are confident the technology will not harm human health or the environment.
“But we’re nowhere near that today,” she said.
“It is a situation of environmental racism. We often say if the rivers flew in the opposite direction to non-Indigenous communities, would things be like this?”
Oilsands facilities are shown near the Athabasca River at Suncor’s Base Plant near Fort McMurray. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)
Industry players say they have spent several years developing and testing various technologies to treat the wastewater, in addition to supporting ongoing water monitoring programs in the region.
“If we take these elements together, we think that gives confidence that a treatment technology is effective, environmentally protective and capable of building, delivering long term results,” said Jessica Dillabough, a sustainability manager with Imperial Oil.
The industry is testing various chemical and biological methods of treating tailings water and filtering out contaminants. Major oil companies have partnered with university scientists on dozens of research projects focused on water and tailings in the oilsands.
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For now, Ottawa is tight-lipped about its next move. The federal environment minister declined interview requests from CBC News and a spokesperson wouldn’t provide any timeline on a decision.
Last month, federal Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson answered a question from Radio-Canada during a press conference in Alberta about tailings ponds, remarking “We will do the work to make sure we have the right regulations with respect to tailings ponds.”
Hodgson said the regulations would be developed by the end of 2027.
However, later that day, his spokesperson said to CBC News that the minister had misspoken and there is no timeline.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith attends the Oil Sands Expo in Fort McMurray on Sept. 16. The oilsands industry should be able to release treated water into the river, she said, similar to the regulations allowing other industries to do the same. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)
