Environment critic Marlin Schmidt said Albertans now know even less than before the review of the Mine Financial Security Program began
“Given how much money is at stake and how important this sector is to our economy, the fact the public was completely shut out of this process is really concerning,” he said.
Schmidt said that during the program review, the government changed its rules on how companies must ensure their cleanup obligations can be met. Instead of relying on lines of credit or other forms of capital, the totals of which were made public, companies can now provide demand bonds from insurance companies.
Thomas Schneider, associate professor of accounting at Toronto Metropolitan University, said accepting insurance instead of requiring resources to be set aside allows producers to delay reserving the billions of dollars the cleanup would take even as some mines approach end of life. A spokesman for Alberta Environment and Protected Areas said the government expects to complete its review this year and begin implementing changes – “if any” – in 2024.
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