Recent leaks of toxic tailings from Alberta oilsands mines have revealed serious flaws in how Canada and Alberta look after the environment.
Tailings samples are being tested during a tour of Imperial's oil sands research centre in Calgary, on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. Recent leaks of toxic tailings from northern Alberta oilsands mines have revealed serious flaws in how Canada and Alberta look after the environment, observers say.
“We have never taken this issue seriously,” said Martin Olszynski, a University of Calgary resource law professor and former federal regulatory lawyer. “They have never taken these risks and these threats seriously.” “The biggest learning from this is that the province has oversight and control over what information the federal government is receiving,” said Mandy Olsgard, a toxicologist who has worked on regulatory issues for the Alberta Energy Regulator and Indigenous groups.“They just hand it off to the province.”
“It’s a general message of don’t rock the boat,” he said. “It permeates the department of energy and it permeates Alberta Environment.” A survey conducted in 2021 for Alberta Environment found more than 85 per cent of Albertans had little confidence in the regulator’s ability to govern industry, in that case coal. The survey also reported Albertans found the agency reluctant to release information and was not very transparent.
“There’s no investigation into what process led to the failure, nor any commitment to improving,” he said. “We’re just shrugging our shoulders and hoping next time things work out better.”
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