I'll read from an article on Imperial's 2021 report which says:
“[Process affected water] seepage, or potential early arrival of [such water], was reported at 11 monitoring locations in 2021, indicated by trends and/or [control objective] exceedances in multiple [...parameters]”, it says.
The article goes on to say:
Substances found at concentrations above desired limits [include] naphthenic acids, dissolved solids and sulphates—a common proxy for hydrocarbon residue.
It seems clear that the Alberta Energy Regulator was aware there was contamination in the environment outside the lease area, and it has been aware of that for many years. I'm interested in what actions have been taken by the regulator to stop that contamination.
All of a sudden, in 2022, when that discoloured surface water showed up, it seems the regulator flew into action and compelled Imperial to build French drains and all sorts of additional containment facilities—wells, pumps—in addition to the original design, which indicates to me that the system wasn't working, as you had indicated earlier, and that in fact there was a failure of the design, which required this.
We want to understand how far back the failure goes. How long has toxic tailings water been seeping into the environment? How much of that toxic tailings water has already made its way into the waterways and downstream? That is at the heart of the question we're trying to get at.