Evidence of meeting #59 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was imperial.
A video is available from Parliament.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
All of the data we've gathered has been shared. I understand that we were instructing Imperial to share theirs. The last report I had suggested they had done so.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Last week Mr. Younger, from Imperial Oil, stated that Imperial installed “very shallow trenching with well points and pumps” to intercept the ongoing seepage. In response to my question of whether or not the Kearl tailings pond is continuing to seep into Treaty No. 8 wetlands, he then went on to say, “We've...intercepted all of the seepage.”
Given that we have found that AER has found, in the deep groundwater monitoring outside the Kearl lease area, excessive levels of these toxins associated with tailings, would Mr. Younger's statements be considered true?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
The Imperial containment facility has always had deep intercept wells. If there's any evidence that there might be something moving through within the containment system, those products would be moved back into the tailings system.
What we do know is that there was an impacted area, and it's just thawing now. It will take a bit of time to see whether that seepage is contained in a steady state, or whether in fact there's any evidence that anything's moving this spring.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
You are finding toxins outside the Kearl site. There is an impacted area, and you are continuing to allow Imperial Oil to put tailings into that system, the closed system we have been told about. Imperial has said this is a closed-loop system. Clearly it is not, if the toxins have left the site.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
Imperial was instructed to create a plan to re-establish those containment systems. They have done so at the four impacted areas that have been identified. That work is nearly completed. We have been providing detailed weekly updates to first nations. You can see them on our website. They show you the progress on the work that's being done.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Thank you.
Can you tell me when you informed any provincial government representative of the seepage that you first learned of in May 2022?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
Do you mean me, personally?
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
I mean the AER. When was any representative from the provincial government notified?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
We do have a review that's being conducted by our board of directors, so I think it would be best to leave that to—
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
You can't tell us the date when you let the provincial government know that this was happening.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
I think it's best that we let that review be a full, independent review. All of those answers and all of those questions will be addressed in that review. The board has made a commitment that those findings will be released publicly.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Mr. Pushor, you're in front of a parliamentary committee. I would ask that you tell us the date when the provincial government knew this spill was happening, the date that any representative from the Province of Alberta knew that this spill was happening.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
We have extensive relationships at the field level.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
That is not a date, Mr. Pushor. I would like to know the date the provincial government knew that this was happening in indigenous communities in northern Alberta.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
What I'm saying is that it's part of the review the board will do, and we'll find out all of the places that—
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
You are unwilling to tell this committee the date that the provincial government learned about this spill.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
I can speak to when I communicated to the provincial government.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
I communicated to the provincial government one or two days prior to the environmental protection order being issued.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Did anyone else from the AER contact the Province of Alberta in May 2022 to tell them what was happening?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
That is all part of the review that our organization—
NDP
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Time's up.
Before we go to the second round, I have a question.
I will quote from an article in The Globe and Mail last week. It says:
However, independent sampling commissioned by the regulator concluded last week that a small, fish-bearing lake at the northeastern edge of the Kearl site now contains levels of toxins that exceed government guidelines. The lake, which feeds into a tributary of the Firebag River, also contains naphthenic acids, which are formed from the breakdown of petrochemicals...
My understanding is that there's monitoring going on around this lake that feeds into the Firebag River. Am I correct in assuming that?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Energy Regulator
Yes. Within the mine plan, it's commonly called water body 3.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
My question is this: Even if the monitoring shows that there's seepage into the Firebag River, what really can be done about it? At that point, it's permeating the environment and it's in the water flow, so is the monitoring just to...? I guess it's to alert people, obviously, but there's really no remedial action that can be taken, I would think.