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Oil sands tailings ponds (Canada)

January 25, 2023

Oil sands tailings ponds are engineered dam and dyke systems used to capture oil sand tailings. Oil sand tailings contain a mixture of salts, suspended solids and other dissolvable chemical compounds such as acids, benzene, hydrocarbons[1] residual bitumen, fine silts and water.[2] Large volumes of tailings are a byproduct of bitumen extraction from the oil sands and managing these tailings is one of the most difficult environmental challenges facing the oil sands industry.[2] An October 2021 Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) report said that in 2020 the tailings ponds increased by another 90 million cubic meters and contained 1.36 billion cubic metres of fluids.[3]

Oil sands tailings ponds

Location

 
The extent of oil sands in Alberta, Canada

In Canada there are three major oil sand deposits, primarily located in the province of Alberta, with some also located in the neighbouring province of Saskatchewan. They are known as Athabasca Oil Sands, Cold Lake oil sands, and Peace River oil sands. The Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) has 19 tailings ponds.

Components of oil sands tailings ponds

Oil sand tailings or oil sands process-affected water (OSPW), have a highly variable composition and a complex mixture of compounds.[4] In his oft-cited 2008 journal article, E. W. Allen wrote that typically tailings ponds consist of c. 75% water, c. 25% sand, silt and clay, c.2% of residual bitumen, as well as dissolved salts, organics, and minerals.[5]: 124  Although many of the components of TPW "occur naturally in adjacent landscapes, the mining process increases their concentrations",[4]: 3  for example, sodium, chloride, sulphate, bicarbonate, and ammonia.[5]: 124  Citing research from the 1978 onwards, Allen included naphthenic acids (NAs), bitumen, asphaltenes, creosols, phenols, humic and fulvic acids, benzene, phthalates, toluene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), in the list of organic compounds in TPW.[5]: 127  Allen names aromatic hydrocarbons [including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene, phenols and toluene], naphthenic acids (NAs) and dissolved solids, as those that were most harmful to humans, fish, and birds.[4]: 3  As well as toxic metals considered to be priority pollutants such as chromium, arsenic, nickel, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc, OSPW also contains "common, low-toxicity metals" including titanium aluminum, molybdenum, iron, and vanadium.[4]: 5  The exposure to particulate matter (PM) containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been seen to have higher cytotoxicity then PM containing heavy metals.[6]

The concentrations of chemicals is harmful to fish, and oil on the surface of the ponds is harmful to birds.[7]

The lack of knowledge and identification of individual compounds has become a major hindrance to the handling and monitoring of oil sands tailings. A better understanding of the chemical makeup, including naphthenic acids, it may be possible to monitor rivers for leachate and also to remove toxic components. The identification of individual acids has for many years proved to be impossible but a breakthrough in 2011 in analysis began to reveal what is in the oil sands tailings ponds.[8] Theoretically, as much as ninety percent of the water in the tailings could be reused for further oil extraction.[2][dead link]

Size and scope

According to an October 2021 Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) report, in 2020 in spite of a decrease in oil production, oil sands tailings ponds grew another 90 million cubic meters in 2020 containing 1.36 billion cubic metres of fluids.[3] This represents a surface comparable to "1.7 times the size of Vancouver".[3]

In 2008 tailings ponds held 732 billion litres of tailings.[9] By 2009, as tailing ponds continued to proliferate and volumes of fluid tailings increased, the Energy Resources Conservation Board of Alberta issued Directive 074 to force oil companies to manage tailings based on aggressive criteria.[10]

By 2013, the Government of Alberta reported that tailings ponds covered an area of about 77 square kilometres (30 sq mi).[2] According to a Calgary Herald article, by September 2017, the tailings ponds held c."1.2 trillion litres of contaminated water" and covered about 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi).[11]

Cost of clean-up

A 2018 joint investigation by the Toronto Star, Global News, National Observer, and four Journalism Schools—Concordia University, Ryerson University, University of Regina and University of British Columbia—revealed that the estimated liability for the clean up cost for "oilsands mining operations facilities" was about $130 billion.[12] The investigation, which resulted in the news coverage series, The Price of Oil,[13] was undertaken by "the largest ever collaboration of journalists in Canada".[14] The investigation revealed that the security collected from companies to cover the costs of shutting down and cleaning up mining sites including tailings ponds and pipelines was $1.4 billion; and the previous calculated liability was $27.80 billion.[15] The clean-up of tailings ponds, which "have sprawled to cover an area the size of Kelowna", which is 211.8 km2 (81.8 sq mi), represent a "significant part of the liability."[15] The journalists working on the Price of Oil series were told by experts that the liabilities in the oilsands, mainly tailings ponds, represent almost 50% of the $130 billion in the AER mining category, the total estimated liability.[15]

Documents released through the freedom of information legislation as requested for the joint investigation of Alberta Energy Regulator internal documents included Rob Wadsworth's speaking notes at a February 28, 2018 presentation to the Petroleum History Society in Calgary. Wdsworth warned that "the true costs of cleaning up the oils sands" could be $260 billion and a significant part of the costs include the clean-up of toxic tailings ponds. In his outline of the financial liabilities in Alberta's oil patch, Wadsworth, who was the AER vice president of closure and liability, said that with the rules in place in 2018, fossil fuel companies could put off setting aside enough money to cover the costs of cleaning up their sites, until their business could "no longer afford to pay anything". He warned that even though weaknesses in the flawed programs were known, there was no "proactive change to the liability programs." Until about 2018, the "implications of our flawed system had not been not realized". He cautioned that if the industry did not respond, it would be the public that felt the impact and called on the industry representatives to retain the liabilities so they are "not passed on to Albertans". In response to the report, then Environment Minister of Alberta, Shannon Phillips said that Wadsworth's estimates represented a “worst-case scenario” in which the industry shuts down overnight."[16]

Syncrude Tailings Dam

Main article: Syncrude Tailings Dam
 
Syncrude tailings dam

The Syncrude Tailings Dam or Mildred Lake Settling Basin (MLSB) is an embankment dam that is, by volume of construction material, the largest earth structure in the world in 2001.[17] It is located 40 km (25 mi) north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada at the northern end of the Mildred Lake lease owned by Syncrude Canada Ltd. The dam and the tailings artificial lake within it are constructed and maintained as part of ongoing operations by Syncrude in extracting oil from the Athabasca Oil Sands. Other tailings dams constructed and operated in the same area by Syncrude include the Southwest Sand Storage (SWSS),[18] which is the third largest dam in the world by volume of construction material after the Tarbela Dam. The MLSB, which is the oldest tailings pond in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR), was found in a 2018 report published in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics journal to be "responsible for the majority of tailings ponds emissions of methane."[19]: 7361 

On 31 December 2018, Syncrude was fined $2.75 million after pleading guilty under the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act (MBCA) and Alberta's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act in relation to the deaths of 31 great blue herons in August 2015 at the MLSB.[20] At the time the MLSB inactive sump "was not covered by Syncrude's waterfowl protection plan to deter birds from landing at tailings areas".[20] Doreen Cole, who has been Managing Director of Syncrude Canada since December 2017, "We immediately took steps to bring all these areas on our Mildred Lake and Aurora sites into our waterfowl protection plan. We're committed to being a responsible operator and this has strengthened our resolve to reduce the impact of our operations on wildlife."[20] On 22 October 2010 Syncrude was found guilty under the provincial and federal Acts and was fined $3-million, which at that time represented the "largest environmental penalty in Alberta history."[21] In 2008, 1,606 ducks died in Syncrude's tailings ponds, which at that time covered an area of 12-square-kilometres, because "cannons, effigies and other deterrents", intended for use to deter migratory birds, had not been deployed.[21] Syncrude's trial lawyer at that time, Robert White, had urged his client to challenge the guilty verdict.[21] But Syncrude spokeswoman said that they would plead guilty and pay the fine as, "At Syncrude, we're eager to move forward. The incident haunted us and we regret that it ever happened."[21]

Horizon tailings dam

 
Horizon tailings dam

As of 2010, according to the "Mature Fine Tailings Inventory from mine operator tailings plans submitted in October 2009, Canadian Natural Resources's (CNRL) mine, Horizon mine had 48,000,000 cubic metres (1.7×109 cu ft) of mature fine tailings (MFT) in their tailings ponds.[22]: 4  However COSIA argues that CNRL's Horizon External Tailings Facility (ETF) is a relatively young pond with a configuration that minimizes the "Pond Centre (PC) depositional environment". It has a "side hill" facility with a three-sided dyke impounding fluid against the natural ground that rises away from the containment dyke."[23]: 34 

Regulations and oversight

From its establishment in January 2008, until it was disbanded in 2013, the Edmonton, Alberta-based Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB)—an independent, quasi-judicial agency of the Government of Alberta—regulated Alberta's energy resource industry, which included oils sands tailings ponds. Board members included engineers, geologists, technicians, economists, and other professionals. The ERCB was created to replace the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) and the Alberta Utilities Commission. The ERCB's first major publication was the December 2008, Directive 073: Requirements for Inspection and Compliance of Oil Sands Mining and Processing Plant Operations in the Oil Sands Mining Area, which was based Oil Sands Conservation Act (OSCA), Oil Sands Conservation Regulation (OSCR), Informational Letter (IL) 96-07: EUB/AEP Memorandum of Understanding on the Regulation of Oil Sands Development, IL 94-19: Dam Safety Accord, Agreement Between Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry and the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Respecting the Coordination of Services for Coal and Oil Sands Mine Projects (EII/EUB MOU), requirements set out in approval conditions for each oil sands mining and processing plant scheme, operator's ERCB-approved S-23 production accounting manual, Interim Directive (ID) 2001-07: Operating Criteria: Resource Recovery Requirements for Oil Sands Mine and Processing Plants, ID 2001-03: Sulphur Recovery Guidelines for the Province of Alberta, and Directive 019: ERCB Compliance Assurance—Enforcement.[24]

In 2009, the ERCB published an industry wide directive—Directive 074—which was the first of its kind.[25] Directive 074 set out the "industry-wide requirements for tailings management," requiring "operators to commit resources to research, develop, and implement fluid tailings reduction technologies and to commit to tailings management and progressive reclamation as operational priorities that are integrated with mine planning and bitumen production activities."[25][26]

In 2012, the Government of Alberta set up a Tailings Management Framework (TMF) to complement and expand Directive 074's policies to "ensure that fluid fine tailings are reclaimed as quickly as possible and that current inventories are reduced."[25]

The ECRB report entitled 2012 Tailings Management Assessment Report: Oil Sands Mining Industry, cautioned that oil sands operators failed to convert their tailings ponds into deposits suitable for reclamation in a timely fashion, as proposed in their project applications. "The volume of fluid tailings, and the area required to hold fluid tailings, continued to grow, and the reclamation of tailings ponds was further delayed."[25]

The Government of Alberta released the 2012 "Tailings Management Framework for Mineable Oil Sands" as part of Alberta's Progressive Reclamation Strategy for the oil sands to ensure that tailings are reclaimed as quickly as possible.[10]

The ERCB's 2013 "Tailings Management Framework for Mineable Oil Sands" "challenged a "key plank" of the Conservative provincial government, under Premier Alison Redford, who served from October 2011 until her resignation on 23 March 2014. During the tenure of the Redford cabinet, the province was promoting "Alberta as a responsible energy producer."[27] The government had pledged that the "turbid tailings ponds containing the byproducts of bitumen production will soon be a thing of the past."[27] In April 2013, Premier undertook a trade mission to Washington, D.C. in which she said that, "tailings ponds [will] disappear from Alberta's landscape in the very near future."[27] She said that there would be new environmental rules that will force "companies who do use mines and tailings" to "completely halt the growth of fluid tailings ponds by 2016."[27]

In 2013, the Alberta government replaced the ERCB with the newly-created Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), with Jim Ellis, as CEO.[14] The AER's mandate included overseeing the "development of hydrocarbon resources over their entire life cycle", which included "allocating and conserving water resources, and managing public lands." The AER was also tasked with "protecting the environment while providing economic benefits for all Albertans."[28][29][30]

In March 2015 in response to the ERCB's "Tailings Management Framework for Mineable Oil Sands", AER suspended Directive 074: Tailings Performance Criteria and Requirements for Oil Sands Mining Schemes.[31]

In May 2016, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta (ABQB) in 2016 ABQB 278, "confirmed that the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act supersedes the provincial requirements that companies must clean up wells." "[B]ankrupt companies can avoid their liabilities and leave them as a public obligation."[32]: 8 

Directive 85 was issued on 14 July 2016, by the Alberta Energy Regulator, following consultations with "consultations with First Nations, local communities, environmental groups and industry itself".[33] Directive 85 with new guidelines and a phased-in approach on oil sands producers' management of their tailings ponds.[33] Under Directive 85 "fluid tailings" must be "ready to reclaim" within ten years of the closing of an oil sands mine.[33]

On 25 April 2017 the Court of Appeal of Alberta (ABCA) dismissed the AER and OWA's appeal in a landmark decision, affirming the May 2016 decision of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta in favour of Redwater Energy Corporation's receiver, Grant Thornton Limited, in Redwater's bankruptcy proceedings. The ABCA found that Grant Thornton Limited "entitled to disclaim Redwater's non-producing oil wells and sell its producing ones".[34]

In July 2019, the AER announced their Decision 2019 ABAER 006: Syncrude Canada Ltd. Mildred Lake Extension Project and Mildred Lake Tailings Management Plan, with a 289-page report.[35] Syncrude's had submitted their request regarding the Mineral Surface Lease MSL352 in 30 June 2017. The AER decision allows Syncrude to use more public lands to develop oil sands on oil sands leases 17 and 22, under section 20 of the Public Lands Act, with a number of conditions, related to relevant laws, including the Oil Sands Conservation Act (OSCA), the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA), the Water Act, and the Public Lands Act.[35]: 1  The AER found that Syncrude's Mildred Lake Extension (MLX) project was in the "public interest."[35]: 1 

The AER found that Mildred Lake Extension Project (MLX) did not meet Directive 085: Fluid Tailings Management for Oil Sands Mining Projects requirements. Syncrude has until 31 January 2023 to submit an "updated Tailings Management Plan" that aligns with Tailings Management Framework for the Mineable Oil Sands (TMF).[35]: 1  The "TMF under the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP) provides direction to the AER and industry on the management of fluid tailings during and after mine operation. AER Directive 085, under the Oil Sands Conservation Act (OSCA), "sets out requirements for managing fluid tailings for oil sands mining projects."[35]: 3 [Notes 1]

AER on cost of clean-up of tailings ponds

In an AER presentation in February 2018, the AER's "vice-president of closure and liability" said that "based on "a hypothetical worst-case scenario", the cleanup cost would be $260-billion based on "internal AER calculations". The oil industry's "accumulated environmental liability" estimate of $58.65 billion was the amount that the AER had publicly reported.[36] Of that cost, "tailings ponds make up the largest but unknown portion of this AER estimate".[12]

On 15 February 2018 the Supreme Court of Canada held a hearing centering on Alberta's lower courts' findings in favour of Redwater Energy's creditors, to determine if Canada's bankruptcy laws are in conflict with Alberta's regulatory regime – and if those federal laws are paramount to the province's environmental rules".[37]

By February, 2018, there were 1,800 abandoned or orphan wells—sites that had been licensed by AER with combined liabilities of over $110 million. From 2014 to 2018 the industry-led organization's Orphan Well Association's (OWA) inventory, increased from 1,200 to over 3,700.[38]

In late February 2018, CBC News and CP reported that Sequoia Resources Ltd, an oil firm that had purchased "licences for 2,300 wells" in 2016 from Perpetual Energy Inc., had notified AER that it was ceasing operations "imminently" and were unable to maintain "almost 200 facilities and nearly 700 pipeline segments".[39][14] Sequoia Resources Ltd had defaulted on its "municipal tax payments" and could not reclaim its properties.[39] According to The Star, after Sequoia Resources Ltd filed for bankruptcy protection in March "without decommissioning and cleaning up 4,000 wells, pipelines and other facilities", as required of all oil companies,[40]

On 7 August 2018 PricewaterhouseCoopers, the trustee for Chinese investors who purchased Sequoia Resources Ltd in 2016, launched a lawsuit against Perpetual Energy Inc. in an "unprecedented bid to void" the 2016 sale of Perpetual Energy Inc.'s subsidiary called Perpetual Energy Operating Corp. (PEOC) now known as Sequoia Resources Ltd to Chinese investors.[Notes 2] An article in The Globe and Mail said that this appears to be the "first attempt by a bankruptcy trustee in Alberta to have a previous oil and gas transaction unwound." It could "introduce major new risks to the [oil and gas] industry’s ability to buy and sell assets and could also deliver a severe blow to Perpetual." The lawsuit alleges that Perpetual and its CEO Susan Riddell Rose "knew the deal would sink the buyer".[41] Perpetual says that "the claim is without merit".[41]

In a public statement released on 8 August 2018, AER CEO Jim Ellis, who had been CEO since AER's creation in 2013, took the "unusual step"[14] of admitting that the Sequoia "situation has exposed a gap in the system" that needed to be fixed and "raised questions" about how to proceed in the future.[42][Notes 3]

On 1 November 2018 AER CEO Jim Ellis apologized for failing to report "that cleaning up after the province's oil and gas industry would cost $260 billion". On 2 November he announced his retirement as CE0.[36]

Reduction and reclamation

The Alberta Energy Regulator has confirmed that no tailings have ever been certified reclaimed to date.[43] In fact, across the entire oil sands region, only one square km of the total area disturbed by mining operations has ever been certified reclaimed.[44]


Suncor invested $1.2 billion in their Tailings Reduction Operations (TROTM) method[45] that treats mature fine tails (MFT) from tailings ponds with chemical flocculant, an anionic Polyacrylamide, commonly used in water treatment plants to improve removal of total organic content (TOC), to speed their drying into more easily reclaimable matter. Mature tailings dredged from a pond bottom in suspension were mixed with a polymer flocculant and spread over a "beach" with a shallow grade where the tailings would dewater and dry under ambient conditions. The dried MFT can then be reclaimed in situ or moved to another location for final reclamation. Suncor hoped this would reduce the time for water reclamation from tailings to weeks rather than years, with the recovered water being recycled into the oil sands plant. Suncor claimed the mature fines tailings process would reduce the number of tailing ponds and shorten the time to reclaim a tailing pond from 40 years at present to 7–10 years, with land rehabilitation continuously following 7 to 10 years behind the mining operations.[46] For the reporting periods from 2010 to 2012, Suncor had a lower-than-expected fines capture performance from this technology.[10]

Syncrude used the older composite tailings (CT) technology to capture fines at its Mildred Lake project. Syncrude had a lower-than-expected fines capture performance in 2011/2012 but exceeded expectations in 2010/2011.[10] Shell used atmospheric fines drying (AFD) technology combined "fluid tailings and flocculants and deposits the mixture in a sloped area to allow the water to drain and the deposit to dry" and had a lower-than-expected fines capture performance.[10]

Suncor's Wapisiw Lookout

By 2010 Suncor had transformed their first tailings pond, Pond One, into Wapisiw Lookout, the first reclaimed settling basin in the oil sands. In 2007 the area was a 220-hectare pond of toxic effluent but several years later there was firm land planted with black spruce and trembling aspen. Wapisiw Lookout represents only one percent of tailings ponds in 2011 but Pond One was the first effluent pond in the oil sands industry in 1967 and was used until 1997. By 2011 only 65 square kilometres were cleaned up and about one square kilometre was certified by Alberta as a self-sustaining natural environment. Wapisiw Lookout has not yet been certified. Closure operations of Pond One began in 2007. The jello-like mature fine tails (MFT) were pumped and dredged out of the pond and relocated to another tailings pond for long-term storage and treatment. The MFT was then replaced with 30 million tonnes clean sand and then topsoil that had been removed from the site in the 1960s. The 1.2 million cubic meters of topsoil over the surface, to a depth of 50 centimetres, was placed on top of the sand in the form of hummocks and swales. It was then planted with reclamation plants.[47][48][49]

This often-cited example of reclamation is challenged by environmental groups,[50] who point out that the pond is not reclaimed, as the actual harmful tailings fluids were just moved somewhere else. Indeed, the pond's content was drained, and the tailings fluids were transported to other ponds. The pond was then filled with coarser materials and vegetation was added on top. The site is not usable or accessible to the public, and the peatland was not restored.

Syncrude's Sandhill Fen project

In 2008 Syncrude Canada Ltd. began construction of Sandhill Fen project, a 57-hectare research watershed- creating a mix of forest and wetland- on top of sand-capped composite tailings at its former 60-metre deep East Mine.[51]

End Pit Lakes

The Pembina Institute suggested that the huge investments by many companies in Canadian oil sands was leading to increased production results in excess bitumen with no place to store it. It added that by 2022 a month's output of waste-water could result in an 11-feet deep toxic reservoir the size of New York City's Central Park [840.01 acres (339.94 ha) (3.399 km²)].[52]

The oil sands industry may build a series of up to thirty lakes by pumping water into old mine pits when they have finished excavation leaving toxic effluent at their bottoms and letting biological processes restore it to health. It is less expensive to fill abandoned open pit mines with water instead of dirt.[53] In 2012 the Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA) described End Pit Lakes (EPL)[54] as

An engineered water body, located below grade in an oil sands post-mining pit. It may contain oil sands by-product material and will receive surface and groundwater from surrounding reclaimed and undisturbed landscapes. EPLs will be permanent features in the final reclaimed landscape, discharging water to the downstream environment.

— CEMA 2012

CEMA acknowledged that the "main concern is the potential for EPLs to develop a legacy of toxicity and thus reduce the land use value of the oil sands region in the future." Syncrude Canada was planning the first end pit lake in 2013 with the intention of "pumping fresh water over 40 vertical metres of mine effluent that it has deposited in what it calls 'base mine lake.'" David Schindler argued that no further end pit lakes should be approved until we "have some assurance that they will eventually support a healthy ecosystem." There is to date no "evidence to support their viability, or the 'modelled' results suggesting that outflow from the lakes will be non-toxic."[14][53]

Research

In March 2012 an alliance of oil companies called Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) was launched with a mandate to share research and technology to decrease the negative environmental impact of oil sands production focusing on tailings ponds, greenhouse gases, water and land. Almost all the water used to produce crude oil using steam methods of production ends up in tailings ponds. Recent enhancements to this method include Tailings Oil Recovery (TOR) units which recover oil from the tailings, Diluent Recovery Units to recover naphtha from the froth, Inclined Plate Settlers (IPS) and disc centrifuges. These allow the extraction plants to recover well over 90% of the bitumen in the sand.[55][56]

In January 2013, scientists from Queen's University published a report analyzing lake sediments in the Athabasca region over the past fifty years.[57] They found that levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) had increased as much as 23-fold since bitumen extraction began in the 1960s. Levels of carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic PAHs were substantially higher than guidelines for lake sedimentation set by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment in 1999. The team discovered that the contamination spread farther than previously thought.[58]

Emissions

According to the 2018 study by Baray et al, ninety-six per cent of methane emissions in the AOSR came from Mildred Lake Settling Basin and the Syncrude Mildred Lake West In-Pit (WIP) pond and Suncor Energy OSG's Ponds 2–3 (P23).[19]: 7372  MLSB "was found to be responsible for over 70% of tailings ponds emissions of methane (CH4)."[19]: 7361  The study collected data on emission rates of CH4 from the "five major facilities in the AOSR: Syncrude Mildred Lake (SML), Suncor Energy OSG (SUN), Canadian Natural Resources Limited Horizon (CNRL), Shell Albian Muskeg River and Jackpine (SAJ) and Syncrude Aurora (SAU)." 2018 report published in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics journal to be "responsible for the majority of tailings ponds emissions of methane."[19]: 7372 

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The project includes two new open-pit mining operations that would operate with "conventional shovel and truck mining technology". The Mildred Lake Extension (MLX east), located west of the Athabasca River, and Mildred Lake Extension (MLX west), west of the Mackay River are about 35 kilometres (km) north of Fort McMurray the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) and about 10 km north of the hamlet of Fort McKay. Most of Fort McKay is situated on Fort McKay First Nation (FMFN) lands. These two new mines would extend Syncrude's mining activity using old technologies by about 14 years (AER 2019:2).
  2. ^ Perpetual Energy Inc. was created in 2002 as a spin out of Paramount Resources, owned by Clayton Riddell, a Calgary billionaire who died on 15 September 2018. Clayton Riddell remained as Chairman of Perpetual Energy Inc. from its inception in 2002 until Riddell's passing in 2018. Riddell owned 41.7% of Perpetual Energy Inc. and his daughter, Susan Riddell Rose, who is Perpetual's CEO, owns a 4.8%. In August 2018, Perpetual Energy Inc. had a market capitalization of about $40-million. It is alleged in a court filing that in 2016 Susan Riddell Rose "engineered the sale of a subsidiary called Perpetual Energy Operating Corp. (PEOC), later renamed Sequoia" to Chinese investors. In March 2018 Sequoia filed for bankruptcy protection.
  3. ^ From 2012 to 2017, the increase in insolvencies has led to an increase in the number of orphan wells to increase from 100 to 3,200. In 2017 there were 450,000 wells registered in Alberta with about 155,000 "no longer producing but not yet fully remediated". In their 2017 report, the C.D. Howe estimated the cost of clean up of orphan wells was as high as $8 billion.

References

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Further reading

  • "Tailings Ponds: What they're made of", Suncor
  • "Suncor speeds tailings-pond reclamation". Oil & Gas Journal. Houston: PennWell Corporation. 23 October 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  • Wapisiw Lookout Reclamation, nd, retrieved 11 August 2014
  • Vanderklippe, Nathan (23 September 2010), "Suncor scores environmental first", The Globe and Mail, Wapisiw Lookout, Alberta, retrieved 12 April 2014
  • Schor, Elana (16 August 2011), "Reclaimed Dump Sparks Oil Sands Sustainability Debate", The New York Times, retrieved 12 April 2014
  • Kurek, J.; Kirk, J.L.; Muir, D.C.G.; Wang, X.; Evans, M.S.; Smol; J.P. (2013). "Legacy of a half century of Athabasca oil sands development recorded by lake ecosystems" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 110 (5): 1–6. doi:10.1073/pnas.1217675110. PMC 3562817. PMID 23297215. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  • Austen, Ian (7 January 2013). "Oil Sand Industry in Canada Tied to Higher Carcinogen Level". The New York Times.
  • van Loon, Jeremy (22 November 2013), Toxic Lakes From Tar-Sand Projects Planned for Alberta, Bloomberg Markets, retrieved 12 April 2014
  • CEMA Delivers Oilsands Mine End Pit Lake Guidance Document, Fort McMurray, Alberta: Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA), 4 October 2012, retrieved 12 April 2014
  • Vanderklippe, Nathan (3 October 2012), "Ambitious plans for oil sands would create lakes from waste", The Globe and Mail, Calgary, Alberta, retrieved 12 April 2014

January 25, 2023
sands, tailings, ponds, canada, sands, tailings, ponds, engineered, dyke, systems, used, capture, sand, tailings, sand, tailings, contain, mixture, salts, suspended, solids, other, dissolvable, chemical, compounds, such, acids, benzene, hydrocarbons, residual,. Oil sands tailings ponds are engineered dam and dyke systems used to capture oil sand tailings Oil sand tailings contain a mixture of salts suspended solids and other dissolvable chemical compounds such as acids benzene hydrocarbons 1 residual bitumen fine silts and water 2 Large volumes of tailings are a byproduct of bitumen extraction from the oil sands and managing these tailings is one of the most difficult environmental challenges facing the oil sands industry 2 An October 2021 Alberta Energy Regulator AER report said that in 2020 the tailings ponds increased by another 90 million cubic meters and contained 1 36 billion cubic metres of fluids 3 Oil sands tailings ponds Contents 1 Location 2 Components of oil sands tailings ponds 3 Size and scope 4 Cost of clean up 4 1 Syncrude Tailings Dam 4 2 Horizon tailings dam 5 Regulations and oversight 5 1 AER on cost of clean up of tailings ponds 6 Reduction and reclamation 6 1 Suncor s Wapisiw Lookout 6 2 Syncrude s Sandhill Fen project 6 3 End Pit Lakes 7 Research 8 Emissions 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 Further readingLocation Edit The extent of oil sands in Alberta Canada In Canada there are three major oil sand deposits primarily located in the province of Alberta with some also located in the neighbouring province of Saskatchewan They are known as Athabasca Oil Sands Cold Lake oil sands and Peace River oil sands The Athabasca Oil Sands Region AOSR has 19 tailings ponds Components of oil sands tailings ponds EditOil sand tailings or oil sands process affected water OSPW have a highly variable composition and a complex mixture of compounds 4 In his oft cited 2008 journal article E W Allen wrote that typically tailings ponds consist of c 75 water c 25 sand silt and clay c 2 of residual bitumen as well as dissolved salts organics and minerals 5 124 Although many of the components of TPW occur naturally in adjacent landscapes the mining process increases their concentrations 4 3 for example sodium chloride sulphate bicarbonate and ammonia 5 124 Citing research from the 1978 onwards Allen included naphthenic acids NAs bitumen asphaltenes creosols phenols humic and fulvic acids benzene phthalates toluene polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs in the list of organic compounds in TPW 5 127 Allen names aromatic hydrocarbons including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs benzene phenols and toluene naphthenic acids NAs and dissolved solids as those that were most harmful to humans fish and birds 4 3 As well as toxic metals considered to be priority pollutants such as chromium arsenic nickel cadmium copper lead and zinc OSPW also contains common low toxicity metals including titanium aluminum molybdenum iron and vanadium 4 5 The exposure to particulate matter PM containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been seen to have higher cytotoxicity then PM containing heavy metals 6 The concentrations of chemicals is harmful to fish and oil on the surface of the ponds is harmful to birds 7 The lack of knowledge and identification of individual compounds has become a major hindrance to the handling and monitoring of oil sands tailings A better understanding of the chemical makeup including naphthenic acids it may be possible to monitor rivers for leachate and also to remove toxic components The identification of individual acids has for many years proved to be impossible but a breakthrough in 2011 in analysis began to reveal what is in the oil sands tailings ponds 8 Theoretically as much as ninety percent of the water in the tailings could be reused for further oil extraction 2 dead link Size and scope EditAccording to an October 2021 Alberta Energy Regulator AER report in 2020 in spite of a decrease in oil production oil sands tailings ponds grew another 90 million cubic meters in 2020 containing 1 36 billion cubic metres of fluids 3 This represents a surface comparable to 1 7 times the size of Vancouver 3 In 2008 tailings ponds held 732 billion litres of tailings 9 By 2009 as tailing ponds continued to proliferate and volumes of fluid tailings increased the Energy Resources Conservation Board of Alberta issued Directive 074 to force oil companies to manage tailings based on aggressive criteria 10 By 2013 the Government of Alberta reported that tailings ponds covered an area of about 77 square kilometres 30 sq mi 2 According to a Calgary Herald article by September 2017 the tailings ponds held c 1 2 trillion litres of contaminated water and covered about 220 square kilometres 85 sq mi 11 Cost of clean up EditA 2018 joint investigation by the Toronto Star Global News National Observer and four Journalism Schools Concordia University Ryerson University University of Regina and University of British Columbia revealed that the estimated liability for the clean up cost for oilsands mining operations facilities was about 130 billion 12 The investigation which resulted in the news coverage series The Price of Oil 13 was undertaken by the largest ever collaboration of journalists in Canada 14 The investigation revealed that the security collected from companies to cover the costs of shutting down and cleaning up mining sites including tailings ponds and pipelines was 1 4 billion and the previous calculated liability was 27 80 billion 15 The clean up of tailings ponds which have sprawled to cover an area the size of Kelowna which is 211 8 km2 81 8 sq mi represent a significant part of the liability 15 The journalists working on the Price of Oil series were told by experts that the liabilities in the oilsands mainly tailings ponds represent almost 50 of the 130 billion in the AER mining category the total estimated liability 15 Documents released through the freedom of information legislation as requested for the joint investigation of Alberta Energy Regulator internal documents included Rob Wadsworth s speaking notes at a February 28 2018 presentation to the Petroleum History Society in Calgary Wdsworth warned that the true costs of cleaning up the oils sands could be 260 billion and a significant part of the costs include the clean up of toxic tailings ponds In his outline of the financial liabilities in Alberta s oil patch Wadsworth who was the AER vice president of closure and liability said that with the rules in place in 2018 fossil fuel companies could put off setting aside enough money to cover the costs of cleaning up their sites until their business could no longer afford to pay anything He warned that even though weaknesses in the flawed programs were known there was no proactive change to the liability programs Until about 2018 the implications of our flawed system had not been not realized He cautioned that if the industry did not respond it would be the public that felt the impact and called on the industry representatives to retain the liabilities so they are not passed on to Albertans In response to the report then Environment Minister of Alberta Shannon Phillips said that Wadsworth s estimates represented a worst case scenario in which the industry shuts down overnight 16 Syncrude Tailings Dam Edit Main article Syncrude Tailings Dam Syncrude tailings dam The Syncrude Tailings Dam or Mildred Lake Settling Basin MLSB is an embankment dam that is by volume of construction material the largest earth structure in the world in 2001 17 It is located 40 km 25 mi north of Fort McMurray Alberta Canada at the northern end of the Mildred Lake lease owned by Syncrude Canada Ltd The dam and the tailings artificial lake within it are constructed and maintained as part of ongoing operations by Syncrude in extracting oil from the Athabasca Oil Sands Other tailings dams constructed and operated in the same area by Syncrude include the Southwest Sand Storage SWSS 18 which is the third largest dam in the world by volume of construction material after the Tarbela Dam The MLSB which is the oldest tailings pond in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region AOSR was found in a 2018 report published in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics journal to be responsible for the majority of tailings ponds emissions of methane 19 7361 On 31 December 2018 Syncrude was fined 2 75 million after pleading guilty under the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act MBCA and Alberta s Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act in relation to the deaths of 31 great blue herons in August 2015 at the MLSB 20 At the time the MLSB inactive sump was not covered by Syncrude s waterfowl protection plan to deter birds from landing at tailings areas 20 Doreen Cole who has been Managing Director of Syncrude Canada since December 2017 We immediately took steps to bring all these areas on our Mildred Lake and Aurora sites into our waterfowl protection plan We re committed to being a responsible operator and this has strengthened our resolve to reduce the impact of our operations on wildlife 20 On 22 October 2010 Syncrude was found guilty under the provincial and federal Acts and was fined 3 million which at that time represented the largest environmental penalty in Alberta history 21 In 2008 1 606 ducks died in Syncrude s tailings ponds which at that time covered an area of 12 square kilometres because cannons effigies and other deterrents intended for use to deter migratory birds had not been deployed 21 Syncrude s trial lawyer at that time Robert White had urged his client to challenge the guilty verdict 21 But Syncrude spokeswoman said that they would plead guilty and pay the fine as At Syncrude we re eager to move forward The incident haunted us and we regret that it ever happened 21 Horizon tailings dam Edit Horizon tailings dam As of 2010 according to the Mature Fine Tailings Inventory from mine operator tailings plans submitted in October 2009 Canadian Natural Resources s CNRL mine Horizon mine had 48 000 000 cubic metres 1 7 109 cu ft of mature fine tailings MFT in their tailings ponds 22 4 However COSIA argues that CNRL s Horizon External Tailings Facility ETF is a relatively young pond with a configuration that minimizes the Pond Centre PC depositional environment It has a side hill facility with a three sided dyke impounding fluid against the natural ground that rises away from the containment dyke 23 34 Regulations and oversight EditFrom its establishment in January 2008 until it was disbanded in 2013 the Edmonton Alberta based Energy Resources Conservation Board ERCB an independent quasi judicial agency of the Government of Alberta regulated Alberta s energy resource industry which included oils sands tailings ponds Board members included engineers geologists technicians economists and other professionals The ERCB was created to replace the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board EUB and the Alberta Utilities Commission The ERCB s first major publication was the December 2008 Directive 073 Requirements for Inspection and Compliance of Oil Sands Mining and Processing Plant Operations in the Oil Sands Mining Area which was based Oil Sands Conservation Act OSCA Oil Sands Conservation Regulation OSCR Informational Letter IL 96 07 EUB AEP Memorandum of Understanding on the Regulation of Oil Sands Development IL 94 19 Dam Safety Accord Agreement Between Alberta Employment Immigration and Industry and the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Respecting the Coordination of Services for Coal and Oil Sands Mine Projects EII EUB MOU requirements set out in approval conditions for each oil sands mining and processing plant scheme operator s ERCB approved S 23 production accounting manual Interim Directive ID 2001 07 Operating Criteria Resource Recovery Requirements for Oil Sands Mine and Processing Plants ID 2001 03 Sulphur Recovery Guidelines for the Province of Alberta and Directive 019 ERCB Compliance Assurance Enforcement 24 In 2009 the ERCB published an industry wide directive Directive 074 which was the first of its kind 25 Directive 074 set out the industry wide requirements for tailings management requiring operators to commit resources to research develop and implement fluid tailings reduction technologies and to commit to tailings management and progressive reclamation as operational priorities that are integrated with mine planning and bitumen production activities 25 26 In 2012 the Government of Alberta set up a Tailings Management Framework TMF to complement and expand Directive 074 s policies to ensure that fluid fine tailings are reclaimed as quickly as possible and that current inventories are reduced 25 The ECRB report entitled 2012 Tailings Management Assessment Report Oil Sands Mining Industry cautioned that oil sands operators failed to convert their tailings ponds into deposits suitable for reclamation in a timely fashion as proposed in their project applications The volume of fluid tailings and the area required to hold fluid tailings continued to grow and the reclamation of tailings ponds was further delayed 25 The Government of Alberta released the 2012 Tailings Management Framework for Mineable Oil Sands as part of Alberta s Progressive Reclamation Strategy for the oil sands to ensure that tailings are reclaimed as quickly as possible 10 The ERCB s 2013 Tailings Management Framework for Mineable Oil Sands challenged a key plank of the Conservative provincial government under Premier Alison Redford who served from October 2011 until her resignation on 23 March 2014 During the tenure of the Redford cabinet the province was promoting Alberta as a responsible energy producer 27 The government had pledged that the turbid tailings ponds containing the byproducts of bitumen production will soon be a thing of the past 27 In April 2013 Premier undertook a trade mission to Washington D C in which she said that tailings ponds will disappear from Alberta s landscape in the very near future 27 She said that there would be new environmental rules that will force companies who do use mines and tailings to completely halt the growth of fluid tailings ponds by 2016 27 In 2013 the Alberta government replaced the ERCB with the newly created Alberta Energy Regulator AER with Jim Ellis as CEO 14 The AER s mandate included overseeing the development of hydrocarbon resources over their entire life cycle which included allocating and conserving water resources and managing public lands The AER was also tasked with protecting the environment while providing economic benefits for all Albertans 28 29 30 In March 2015 in response to the ERCB s Tailings Management Framework for Mineable Oil Sands AER suspended Directive 074 Tailings Performance Criteria and Requirements for Oil Sands Mining Schemes 31 In May 2016 the Court of Queen s Bench of Alberta ABQB in 2016 ABQB 278 confirmed that the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act supersedes the provincial requirements that companies must clean up wells B ankrupt companies can avoid their liabilities and leave them as a public obligation 32 8 Directive 85 was issued on 14 July 2016 by the Alberta Energy Regulator following consultations with consultations with First Nations local communities environmental groups and industry itself 33 Directive 85 with new guidelines and a phased in approach on oil sands producers management of their tailings ponds 33 Under Directive 85 fluid tailings must be ready to reclaim within ten years of the closing of an oil sands mine 33 On 25 April 2017 the Court of Appeal of Alberta ABCA dismissed the AER and OWA s appeal in a landmark decision affirming the May 2016 decision of the Court of Queen s Bench of Alberta in favour of Redwater Energy Corporation s receiver Grant Thornton Limited in Redwater s bankruptcy proceedings The ABCA found that Grant Thornton Limited entitled to disclaim Redwater s non producing oil wells and sell its producing ones 34 In July 2019 the AER announced their Decision 2019 ABAER 006 Syncrude Canada Ltd Mildred Lake Extension Project and Mildred Lake Tailings Management Plan with a 289 page report 35 Syncrude s had submitted their request regarding the Mineral Surface Lease MSL352 in 30 June 2017 The AER decision allows Syncrude to use more public lands to develop oil sands on oil sands leases 17 and 22 under section 20 of the Public Lands Act with a number of conditions related to relevant laws including the Oil Sands Conservation Act OSCA the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act EPEA the Water Act and the Public Lands Act 35 1 The AER found that Syncrude s Mildred Lake Extension MLX project was in the public interest 35 1 The AER found that Mildred Lake Extension Project MLX did not meet Directive 085 Fluid Tailings Management for Oil Sands Mining Projects requirements Syncrude has until 31 January 2023 to submit an updated Tailings Management Plan that aligns with Tailings Management Framework for the Mineable Oil Sands TMF 35 1 The TMF under the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan LARP provides direction to the AER and industry on the management of fluid tailings during and after mine operation AER Directive 085 under the Oil Sands Conservation Act OSCA sets out requirements for managing fluid tailings for oil sands mining projects 35 3 Notes 1 AER on cost of clean up of tailings ponds Edit In an AER presentation in February 2018 the AER s vice president of closure and liability said that based on a hypothetical worst case scenario the cleanup cost would be 260 billion based on internal AER calculations The oil industry s accumulated environmental liability estimate of 58 65 billion was the amount that the AER had publicly reported 36 Of that cost tailings ponds make up the largest but unknown portion of this AER estimate 12 On 15 February 2018 the Supreme Court of Canada held a hearing centering on Alberta s lower courts findings in favour of Redwater Energy s creditors to determine if Canada s bankruptcy laws are in conflict with Alberta s regulatory regime and if those federal laws are paramount to the province s environmental rules 37 By February 2018 there were 1 800 abandoned or orphan wells sites that had been licensed by AER with combined liabilities of over 110 million From 2014 to 2018 the industry led organization s Orphan Well Association s OWA inventory increased from 1 200 to over 3 700 38 In late February 2018 CBC News and CP reported that Sequoia Resources Ltd an oil firm that had purchased licences for 2 300 wells in 2016 from Perpetual Energy Inc had notified AER that it was ceasing operations imminently and were unable to maintain almost 200 facilities and nearly 700 pipeline segments 39 14 Sequoia Resources Ltd had defaulted on its municipal tax payments and could not reclaim its properties 39 According to The Star after Sequoia Resources Ltd filed for bankruptcy protection in March without decommissioning and cleaning up 4 000 wells pipelines and other facilities as required of all oil companies 40 On 7 August 2018 PricewaterhouseCoopers the trustee for Chinese investors who purchased Sequoia Resources Ltd in 2016 launched a lawsuit against Perpetual Energy Inc in an unprecedented bid to void the 2016 sale of Perpetual Energy Inc s subsidiary called Perpetual Energy Operating Corp PEOC now known as Sequoia Resources Ltd to Chinese investors Notes 2 An article in The Globe and Mail said that this appears to be the first attempt by a bankruptcy trustee in Alberta to have a previous oil and gas transaction unwound It could introduce major new risks to the oil and gas industry s ability to buy and sell assets and could also deliver a severe blow to Perpetual The lawsuit alleges that Perpetual and its CEO Susan Riddell Rose knew the deal would sink the buyer 41 Perpetual says that the claim is without merit 41 In a public statement released on 8 August 2018 AER CEO Jim Ellis who had been CEO since AER s creation in 2013 took the unusual step 14 of admitting that the Sequoia situation has exposed a gap in the system that needed to be fixed and raised questions about how to proceed in the future 42 Notes 3 On 1 November 2018 AER CEO Jim Ellis apologized for failing to report that cleaning up after the province s oil and gas industry would cost 260 billion On 2 November he announced his retirement as CE0 36 Reduction and reclamation EditThe Alberta Energy Regulator has confirmed that no tailings have ever been certified reclaimed to date 43 In fact across the entire oil sands region only one square km of the total area disturbed by mining operations has ever been certified reclaimed 44 Suncor invested 1 2 billion in their Tailings Reduction Operations TROTM method 45 that treats mature fine tails MFT from tailings ponds with chemical flocculant an anionic Polyacrylamide commonly used in water treatment plants to improve removal of total organic content TOC to speed their drying into more easily reclaimable matter Mature tailings dredged from a pond bottom in suspension were mixed with a polymer flocculant and spread over a beach with a shallow grade where the tailings would dewater and dry under ambient conditions The dried MFT can then be reclaimed in situ or moved to another location for final reclamation Suncor hoped this would reduce the time for water reclamation from tailings to weeks rather than years with the recovered water being recycled into the oil sands plant Suncor claimed the mature fines tailings process would reduce the number of tailing ponds and shorten the time to reclaim a tailing pond from 40 years at present to 7 10 years with land rehabilitation continuously following 7 to 10 years behind the mining operations 46 For the reporting periods from 2010 to 2012 Suncor had a lower than expected fines capture performance from this technology 10 Syncrude used the older composite tailings CT technology to capture fines at its Mildred Lake project Syncrude had a lower than expected fines capture performance in 2011 2012 but exceeded expectations in 2010 2011 10 Shell used atmospheric fines drying AFD technology combined fluid tailings and flocculants and deposits the mixture in a sloped area to allow the water to drain and the deposit to dry and had a lower than expected fines capture performance 10 Suncor s Wapisiw Lookout Edit By 2010 Suncor had transformed their first tailings pond Pond One into Wapisiw Lookout the first reclaimed settling basin in the oil sands In 2007 the area was a 220 hectare pond of toxic effluent but several years later there was firm land planted with black spruce and trembling aspen Wapisiw Lookout represents only one percent of tailings ponds in 2011 but Pond One was the first effluent pond in the oil sands industry in 1967 and was used until 1997 By 2011 only 65 square kilometres were cleaned up and about one square kilometre was certified by Alberta as a self sustaining natural environment Wapisiw Lookout has not yet been certified Closure operations of Pond One began in 2007 The jello like mature fine tails MFT were pumped and dredged out of the pond and relocated to another tailings pond for long term storage and treatment The MFT was then replaced with 30 million tonnes clean sand and then topsoil that had been removed from the site in the 1960s The 1 2 million cubic meters of topsoil over the surface to a depth of 50 centimetres was placed on top of the sand in the form of hummocks and swales It was then planted with reclamation plants 47 48 49 This often cited example of reclamation is challenged by environmental groups 50 who point out that the pond is not reclaimed as the actual harmful tailings fluids were just moved somewhere else Indeed the pond s content was drained and the tailings fluids were transported to other ponds The pond was then filled with coarser materials and vegetation was added on top The site is not usable or accessible to the public and the peatland was not restored Syncrude s Sandhill Fen project Edit In 2008 Syncrude Canada Ltd began construction of Sandhill Fen project a 57 hectare research watershed creating a mix of forest and wetland on top of sand capped composite tailings at its former 60 metre deep East Mine 51 End Pit Lakes Edit The Pembina Institute suggested that the huge investments by many companies in Canadian oil sands was leading to increased production results in excess bitumen with no place to store it It added that by 2022 a month s output of waste water could result in an 11 feet deep toxic reservoir the size of New York City s Central Park 840 01 acres 339 94 ha 3 399 km 52 The oil sands industry may build a series of up to thirty lakes by pumping water into old mine pits when they have finished excavation leaving toxic effluent at their bottoms and letting biological processes restore it to health It is less expensive to fill abandoned open pit mines with water instead of dirt 53 In 2012 the Cumulative Environmental Management Association CEMA described End Pit Lakes EPL 54 asAn engineered water body located below grade in an oil sands post mining pit It may contain oil sands by product material and will receive surface and groundwater from surrounding reclaimed and undisturbed landscapes EPLs will be permanent features in the final reclaimed landscape discharging water to the downstream environment CEMA 2012CEMA acknowledged that the main concern is the potential for EPLs to develop a legacy of toxicity and thus reduce the land use value of the oil sands region in the future Syncrude Canada was planning the first end pit lake in 2013 with the intention of pumping fresh water over 40 vertical metres of mine effluent that it has deposited in what it calls base mine lake David Schindler argued that no further end pit lakes should be approved until we have some assurance that they will eventually support a healthy ecosystem There is to date no evidence to support their viability or the modelled results suggesting that outflow from the lakes will be non toxic 14 53 Research EditIn March 2012 an alliance of oil companies called Canada s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance COSIA was launched with a mandate to share research and technology to decrease the negative environmental impact of oil sands production focusing on tailings ponds greenhouse gases water and land Almost all the water used to produce crude oil using steam methods of production ends up in tailings ponds Recent enhancements to this method include Tailings Oil Recovery TOR units which recover oil from the tailings Diluent Recovery Units to recover naphtha from the froth Inclined Plate Settlers IPS and disc centrifuges These allow the extraction plants to recover well over 90 of the bitumen in the sand 55 56 In January 2013 scientists from Queen s University published a report analyzing lake sediments in the Athabasca region over the past fifty years 57 They found that levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs had increased as much as 23 fold since bitumen extraction began in the 1960s Levels of carcinogenic mutagenic and teratogenic PAHs were substantially higher than guidelines for lake sedimentation set by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment in 1999 The team discovered that the contamination spread farther than previously thought 58 Emissions EditAccording to the 2018 study by Baray et al ninety six per cent of methane emissions in the AOSR came from Mildred Lake Settling Basin and the Syncrude Mildred Lake West In Pit WIP pond and Suncor Energy OSG s Ponds 2 3 P23 19 7372 MLSB was found to be responsible for over 70 of tailings ponds emissions of methane CH4 19 7361 The study collected data on emission rates of CH4 from the five major facilities in the AOSR Syncrude Mildred Lake SML Suncor Energy OSG SUN Canadian Natural Resources Limited Horizon CNRL Shell Albian Muskeg River and Jackpine SAJ and Syncrude Aurora SAU 2018 report published in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics journal to be responsible for the majority of tailings ponds emissions of methane 19 7372 See also Edit Energy portalTailingsNotes Edit The project includes two new open pit mining operations that would operate with conventional shovel and truck mining technology The Mildred Lake Extension MLX east located west of the Athabasca River and Mildred Lake Extension MLX west west of the Mackay River are about 35 kilometres km north of Fort McMurray the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo RMWB and about 10 km north of the hamlet of Fort McKay Most of Fort McKay is situated on Fort McKay First Nation FMFN lands These two new mines would extend Syncrude s mining activity using old technologies by about 14 years AER 2019 2 Perpetual Energy Inc was created in 2002 as a spin out of Paramount Resources owned by Clayton Riddell a Calgary billionaire who died on 15 September 2018 Clayton Riddell remained as Chairman of Perpetual Energy Inc from its inception in 2002 until Riddell s passing in 2018 Riddell owned 41 7 of Perpetual Energy Inc and his daughter Susan Riddell Rose who is Perpetual s CEO owns a 4 8 In August 2018 Perpetual Energy Inc had a market capitalization of about 40 million It is alleged in a court filing that in 2016 Susan Riddell Rose engineered the sale of a subsidiary called Perpetual Energy Operating Corp PEOC later renamed Sequoia to Chinese investors In March 2018 Sequoia filed for bankruptcy protection From 2012 to 2017 the increase in insolvencies has led to an increase in the number of orphan wells to increase from 100 to 3 200 In 2017 there were 450 000 wells registered in Alberta with about 155 000 no longer producing but not yet fully remediated In their 2017 report the C D Howe estimated the cost of clean up of orphan wells was as high as 8 billion References Edit Canada United States SOLAR Power Process Transform Oil Sands Tailings Mena Report via HighBeam 26 September 2014 archived from the original on 29 March 2015 retrieved 2 December 2014 a b c d Fact Sheet Tailings PDF Government of Alberta September 2013 archived from the original PDF on 25 March 2014 retrieved 12 April 2014 a b c Bulowski Natasha 18 October 2021 Enviro groups want feds to step in after report reveals Alberta s tailings ponds are growing The Toronto Star ISSN 0319 0781 Retrieved 28 March 2022 a b c d Beck Elizabeth M Smits Judit E G St Clair Colleen Cassady 3 October 2015 Evidence of low toxicity of oil sands process affected water to birds invites re evaluation of avian protection strategies Conservation Physiology 3 1 cov038 doi 10 1093 conphys cov038 PMC 4778453 PMID 27293723 a b c Allen E W 2008 Process water treatment in Canada s oil sands industry I Target pollutants and treatment objectives PDF Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science 7 2 123 138 doi 10 1139 s07 038 S2CID 1394752 Archived from the original PDF on 21 December 2018 Retrieved 20 December 2018 Alalaiwe Ahmed Yin Ku Lin Chih Hung Lin Pei Wen Wang Jie Yu Lin Jia You Fang 2020 The absorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons into the skin to elicit cutaneous inflammation The establishment of structure permeation and in silico in vitro in vivo relationships Chemosphere 255 14 Bibcode 2020Chmsp 255l6955A doi 10 1016 j chemosphere 2020 126955 PMID 32416390 S2CID 218669658 Retrieved 27 July 2020 Tailings Ponds What they re made of Suncor 19 March 2013 retrieved 2 December 2014 Rowland SJ Scarlett AG Jones D West CE Frank RA 2011 Diamonds in the Rough Identification of Individual Naphthenic Acids in Oil Sands Process Water Environmental Science amp Technology 45 7 3154 3159 Bibcode 2011EnST 45 3154R doi 10 1021 es103721b PMID 21391632 a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint uses authors parameter link McNeill Jodi 29 April 2018 Oilsands tailing ponds are a nasty challenge that can t be ignored Calgary Herald Retrieved 2 January 2019 a b c d e 2012 Tailings Management Assessment Report Oil Sands Mining Industry PDF Calgary Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board ERCB June 2013 archived from the original PDF on 25 February 2014 retrieved 12 April 2014 Kent Gordon 28 September 2017 Tailings ponds a critical part of Alberta s oilsands legacy Calgary Herald Retrieved 2 January 2019 a b McIntosh Emma 27 November 2018 Alberta government is cracking down on oil sector energy minister says Report Special Report The Price of Oil Retrieved 20 December 2018 The Price of Oil coverage The Price of Oil 30 September 2017 Retrieved 10 June 2021 a b c d e McIntosh Emma Bruser David 23 November 2018 Oilsands waste is collected in sprawling toxic ponds To clean them up oil companies plan to pour water on them The Price of Oil Fort McMurray Alberta Retrieved 20 December 2018 a b c McIntosh Emma Bruser David De Souza Mike Jarvis Carolyn 1 November 2018 What would it cost to clean up Alberta s oilpatch 260 billion a top official warns The Star Retrieved 2 January 2019 De Souza Mike Jarvis Carolyn McIntosh Emma News David Bruser Energy November 1st 2018 Politics 1 November 2018 Alberta regulator privately estimates oilpatch s financial liabilities are hundreds of billions more than what it told the public Canada s National Observer Retrieved 29 March 2022 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a last4 has generic name help Safe dam constructions Seminar on safe tailings dam constructions PDF Gallivare Swedish Mining Association Natur Vards Verket European Commission 19 20 September 2001 retrieved 25 February 2014 South West Sand Storage Conversion PDF Public Disclosure Document Syncrude Canada Ltd July 2008 archived from the original PDF on 26 February 2014 retrieved 2 December 2014 a b c d Baray S Darlington A Gordon M Hayden K L Leithead A Li S M Liu P S K Mittermeier R L Moussa S O Brien J Staebler R Wolde M Worthy D McLaren R 28 May 2018 Quantification of methane sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by aircraft mass balance Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 18 10 7361 7378 Bibcode 2018ACP 18 7361B doi 10 5194 acp 18 7361 2018 a b c Syncrude fined 2 75M in deaths of 31 great blue herons CBC News 2 January 2019 Retrieved 2 January 2019 a b c d Wingrove Josh 22 October 2010 Syncrude to pay 3M for duck deaths The Globe and Mail Edmonton Retrieved 2 January 2019 Tailings A Lasting Oil Sands Legacy PDF WWF World Wide Fund October 2010 retrieved 2 December 2014 AMEC Environment amp Infrastructure June 2013 Beach Fines Capture Study PDF COSIA retrieved 2 December 2014 ERCB 17 December 2008 Directive 073 Requirements for Inspection and Compliance of Oil Sands Mining and Processing Plant Operations in the Oil Sands Mining Area PDF Report Calgary Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board Retrieved 3 March 2012 a b c d 2012 Tailings Management Assessment Report Oil Sands Mining Industry PDF Report Calgary Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board ERCB June 2013 Retrieved 11 June 2013 ERCB 3 February 2009 Directive 074 Tailings Performance Criteria and Requirements for Oil Sands Mining Schemes PDF Report Calgary Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board Retrieved 3 March 2012 a b c d Cryderman Kelly 12 June 2013 Oil sands firms warned on tailings ponds The Globe and Mail Calgary Retrieved 18 January 2020 The Alberta Energy Regulator PDF The Alberta Energy Regulator AER 2013 Archived from the original PDF on 21 April 2014 Alberta Energy Regulator Operations Continue During Southern Alberta Floods Calgary Alberta Marketwired 22 June 2013 Strong team leads Alberta Energy Regulator Edmonton Alberta Government of Alberta 12 June 2013 AER suspends Directive 074 Tailings Performance Criteria and Requirements for Oil Sands Mining Schemes PDF Alberta Energy Regulator Press Release Calgary Alberta 13 March 2015 retrieved 22 April 2015 Dachis Benjamin Shaffer Blake Thivierge Vincent September 2017 All s Well that Ends Well PDF Report Commentary C D Howe Institute p 22 ISBN 978 1 987983 43 2 ISSN 0824 8001 Retrieved 20 December 2018 a b c Varcoe Chris Tailings ponds and pipeline leaks keep heat on Alberta Energy Regulator Calgary Herald Calgary Alberta Brown Jennifer 26 April 2017 Alberta Court of Appeal upholds decision on Redwater bankruptcy Canadian Lawyer Magazine Retrieved 20 December 2018 a b c d e Syncrude Canada Ltd Mildred Lake Extension Project and Mildred Lake Tailings Management Plan PDF Report Calgary Alberta Alberta Energy Regulator AER 16 July 2019 p 289 Retrieved 28 January 2020 a b Alberta Energy Regulator CEO resigns effective January Calgary Herald Postmedia News 2 November 2018 Retrieved 20 December 2018 Seskus Tony 21 February 2018 Fight over bankrupt oil company lands at Supreme Court Who gets paid first Creditors or the cleanup efforts on orphaned wells CBC News Retrieved 20 December 2018 Seskus Tony 21 February 2018 Orphan well clean up costs could sting Alberta taxpayers if regulator loses court battle CBC News Retrieved 20 December 2018 Soaring number of abandoned wells will see industry levies jump to 45M this year triple from 2014 a b Oil firm ceasing operations leaving thousands of untended Alberta wells CBC News via The Canadian Press 8 March 2018 Retrieved 20 December 2018 Sequoia Resources ceasing operations imminently and won t be able to maintain wells and pipelines Oil companies are required to return the lands they develop to a natural state a b Jones Jeffrey Lewis Jeff 6 August 2018 Perpetual Energy shares slump after trustee of bankrupt firm sues Globe and Mail Retrieved 20 December 2018 Facing the liability challenge in Alberta AER president and CEO Jim Ellis Press release Calgary Alberta AER 8 August 2018 Retrieved 20 December 2018 Narwhal The Ponds of toxic waste in Alberta s oilsands are bigger than Vancouver and growing The Narwhal Retrieved 25 July 2022 Alberta Government of 13 March 2010 OSIP Data Library osip alberta ca Retrieved 25 July 2022 Ali Zulfiqar 9 November 2011 Planning Construction and Operational Challenges of Suncor s 1st Sand Dump PDF Proceedings Tailings and Mine Waste 2011 Vancouver BC Retrieved 12 April 2014 Suncor speeds tailings pond reclamation Oil amp Gas Journal Houston PennWell Corporation 23 October 2009 Retrieved 23 October 2009 Wapisiw Lookout Reclamation nd retrieved 11 August 2014 Vanderklippe Nathan 23 September 2010 Suncor scores environmental first The Globe and Mail Wapisiw Lookout Alberta retrieved 12 April 2014 Schor Elana 16 August 2011 Reclaimed Dump Sparks Oil Sands Sustainability Debate The New York Times retrieved 12 April 2014 Debunking Four Oil Sands Tailings Ponds Myths CPAWS Northern Alberta 13 July 2022 Retrieved 25 July 2022 Howell David 22 September 2014 Q amp A Syncrude scientist talks about wetlands reclamation research Fort McMurray Alberta Edmonton Journal archived from the original on 24 September 2014 retrieved 22 September 2014 van Loon Jeremy 22 November 2013 Toxic Lakes From Tar Sand Projects Planned for Alberta Bloomberg Markets retrieved 12 April 2014 a b Vanderklippe Nathan 3 October 2012 Ambitious plans for oil sands would create lakes from waste The Globe and Mail Calgary Alberta retrieved 12 April 2014 CEMA Delivers Oilsands Mine End Pit Lake Guidance Document Fort McMurray Alberta Cumulative Environmental Management Association CEMA 4 October 2012 retrieved 12 April 2014 The oil sands story extraction Oil Sands Discovery Centre archived from the original on 25 March 2009 retrieved 9 April 2009 Sobkowicz John 22 June 2012 Oil sands tailings technology deployment roadmap PDF COSIA retrieved 2 December 2014 Kurek J Kirk J L Muir D C G Wang X Evans M S Smol J P 2013 Legacy of a half century of Athabasca oil sands development recorded by lake ecosystems PDF Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110 5 1 6 doi 10 1073 pnas 1217675110 PMC 3562817 PMID 23297215 Retrieved 9 January 2013 Austen Ian 7 January 2013 Oil Sand Industry in Canada Tied to Higher Carcinogen Level The New York Times Retrieved 2 December 2014 Further reading Edit Tailings Ponds What they re made of Suncor Suncor speeds tailings pond reclamation Oil amp Gas Journal Houston PennWell Corporation 23 October 2009 Retrieved 23 October 2009 Wapisiw Lookout Reclamation nd retrieved 11 August 2014 Vanderklippe Nathan 23 September 2010 Suncor scores environmental first The Globe and Mail Wapisiw Lookout Alberta retrieved 12 April 2014 Schor Elana 16 August 2011 Reclaimed Dump Sparks Oil Sands Sustainability Debate The New York Times retrieved 12 April 2014 Kurek J Kirk J L Muir D C G Wang X Evans M S Smol J P 2013 Legacy of a half century of Athabasca oil sands development recorded by lake ecosystems PDF Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110 5 1 6 doi 10 1073 pnas 1217675110 PMC 3562817 PMID 23297215 Retrieved 9 January 2013 Austen Ian 7 January 2013 Oil Sand Industry in Canada Tied to Higher Carcinogen Level The New York Times van Loon Jeremy 22 November 2013 Toxic Lakes From Tar Sand Projects Planned for Alberta Bloomberg Markets retrieved 12 April 2014 CEMA Delivers Oilsands Mine End Pit Lake Guidance Document Fort McMurray Alberta Cumulative Environmental Management Association CEMA 4 October 2012 retrieved 12 April 2014 Vanderklippe Nathan 3 October 2012 Ambitious plans for oil sands would create lakes from waste The Globe and Mail Calgary Alberta retrieved 12 April 2014 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Oil sands tailings ponds Canada amp oldid 1128579382, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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