Aug. 18, 2010 - Issue #774: Blues Fest

Bare minimum

Tailings ponds cleanup delayed

Last Wednesday, after conducting a technical review of the Imperial Kearl project, Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board approved a plan that will reduce their fine particle tailings by 2023.
Directive 074 requires the ERCB make plans with oil companies to reduce fine particles in tailings by a specific date and must submit annual reports specifying fine particle reduction in tailings ponds.

Tailings, the waste product produced by tar sands extraction techniques, are largely comprised of water, sands and bitumen. Unfortunately, according to Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory preliminary reports, tailings also include reasonably high levels of arsenic, lead and mercury, among other compounds.

The results of the review for the Kearl project indicate that Imperial will not be able to reach the directive's annual reduction targets between the predicted start of the project in 2012 up until 2018. To compensate for the discrepancy, the ERCB is demanding that Kearl exceed the reduction targets between 2018 and 2023. The tailings pond will exist until 2038.

According to communications representative Davis Sheremata, the ERCB will ensure that Imperial take every action necessary to continue working towards the projected reduction targets for 2023. "At the end of the day, Imperial is making a major, major investment to make upgrades to their tailings processes and that's a good thing for Alberta," Sheremata said.

But Simon Dyer, oil sands program director at the Pembina Institute, says he doesn't believe that Imperial is doing everything possible to improve tailings ponds. Dyer says there are existing technologies that could be used by oil companies to reduce fine particles in tailings and speed up reclamation of tailings ponds. "The problem facing tailings is not a technological one, it's an economic one," Dyer said. "Unfortunately, what we're finding is, you know, if those technologies are more expensive ... you're not going to see companies make the switch voluntarily."

According to Dyer, the obligation to control tailings pond operations ultimately lies with the provincial government. "Clearly Alberta has the ability to regulate the industry much more effectively than they are currently and the ERCB has the ability to ensure that companies meet the objective," Dyer said. "The federal government is clearly responsible as well."

MLA Brian Mason also looks to the provincial and federal governments to take responsibility for fine particle reduction and pond reclamation, and eventually to discontinue tailings pond use. "The province has an obligation to give leadership to the industry in eliminating the tailings ponds altogether and make them an obsolete part of oil sands technology," Mason said.

Dyer noted that the oil companies themselves should take responsibility for their actions as well, and should be kept on a tight leash. "We need to actually hold companies accountable ... enforce existing rules that we currently have and not approve new projects until tailings reclamation can actually be demonstrated," he said.

While Dyer contends that the approved six-year delay in attaining reduction targets for the Kearl tailings pond sets a precedent for future projects, Sheremata disagrees, and claims that all projects are reviewed on an individual basis.

Imperial is required to send an updated and improved tailings plan to the ERCB by January 2012, and conditions for approval of the pond require Imperial to submit the first annual tailings' fine particles balance in 2013. V 

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