"Canada's environment minister on Friday said he was "deeply concerned" about a leak of toxic tailings water from Imperial Oil's Kearl oil sands mine in northern Alberta that has been going on for months.

Federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault's comments came a day after the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, a local Indigenous community downstream from the Kearl site, accused Imperial and the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) of failing to protect the public.

Industrial wastewater containing toxins including arsenic and dissolved iron has been seeping from tailings ponds at the 240,000 barrel-per-day Kearl oil sands site since at least May last year.

In early February, Imperial reported a separate leak of more than 5,000 cubic metres of tailings water from one of its holding ponds, prompting the AER to issue an environmental protection order."

Nia Williams reports for Reuters March 3, 2023.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-environment-minister-deepl... [2]