"Newly obtained documents reveal the Alberta Energy Regulator has kept a confidential list of ‘potentially high risk’ sites, including some that could endanger public safety, since at least 2019".
"The regulator overseeing the energy industry in Alberta has kept the public in the dark for at least three years about a confidential list featuring hundreds of potentially dangerous sites contaminated by oil and gas development in the province, The Narwhal has learned.
Staff at the Alberta Energy Regulator flagged details about a 2019 version of the list in an internal briefing note prepared for a high-ranking official in the spring of 2020. They prepared the briefing document to highlight risks as the province and industry grappled with low oil prices and reduced demand in the early days of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The Narwhal obtained a copy of the briefing document in response to a freedom of information request. The full details of the list have not been released.
“The [regulator] is tracking the status of several hundred contaminated sites,” the briefing note, prepared for Martin Foy, executive vice president of the regulator’s operations division, said. “Many of these sites pose some risk to public safety and/or the environment.”"
