(Adds Imperial comment)
By Nia Williams
March 3 (Reuters) - Canada's environment minister on
Friday said he was "deeply concerned" about a leak of toxic
tailings water from Imperial Oil's Kearl oil sands mine
in northern Alberta that has been going on for months.
Federal environment minister Steven 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.
Industrial wastewater containing toxins including arsenic
and dissolved iron has been seeping from tailings ponds at the
240,000 barrel-per-day Kearl oil sands site since at least May
last year.
In early February, Imperial reported a separate leak of more
than 5,000 cubic metres of tailings water from one of its
holding ponds, prompting the AER to issue an environmental
protection order.
Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
said they were not informed about the leaks 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 said federal enforcement officers will carry out
an independent assessment to determine next steps under Canada's
Fisheries Act.
The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation has advised people not
to eat any wild meat harvested downstream of the Kearl site
after May 2022.
Chief Adam said they were concerned Imperial may not have
adequate procedures or infrastructure to contain its tailings
and called for a full investigation.
"This does not appear to be a simple accident, but a
systemic failure of Imperial's tailing ponds," he said in a
statement. "Both Imperial and the AER failed to give notice or
take action to keep the public and Indigenous communities safe."
Calgary-based Imperial, which is majority-owned by Exxon
Mobil Corp , said the issues seem to be related to gaps
within the seepage interception system.
Jamie Long, Imperial's vice-president of oil sands
mining, said the AER recently approved a series of plans to
implement additional measures ahead of spring snowmelt, and the
company is putting in place additional monitoring and pumping
wells.
Imperial will also take steps to improve its
communications with Indigenous communities, Long said.
"It was always our intent to share our findings when we
had more definitively determined the cause and planned actions,"
he added.
(Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by David Gregorio)
Messaging: nia.williams.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
