Aerial view of a tailings pipe at the Syncrude upgrader plant and tailings pond in the Boreal forest north of Fort McMurray.
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) was caught hiding evidence of environmental degradation caused by toxic tailings spills, and misleading the public with false claims that it is closely monitoring the oil sands industry.
The AER is supposed to regulate energy companies to protect communities and the environment, but it has already come under fire in the past for protecting the oil industry’s interests over those of Albertans.
A new report published in the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment journal by ecologist Dr. Timoney released last week reveals new evidence that shows that the AER is failing to hold the oil sands industry accountable for its toxic waste. Dr Timoney obtained the regulator’s internal data on a decade of tailings waste spills and compared it to the AER’s public claims, finding numerous and serious discrepancies.
Let’s dive into what the report found, and how it impacts communities and ecosystems.
As you may know by now, companies in the oil sands have accumulated more than 1.4 trillion litres of toxic waste in huge pits called tailings ponds. The tailings ponds are not lined to separate them from the surrounding environment, so they leak millions of litres of toxic waste every day. Tailings waste also regularly spills, either when tailings ponds overflow or when the waste is transported during the production process. For example, in 2023, a major spill occurred at Imperial Oil’s Kearl mine, releasing 5.3 million litres of toxic waste into the environment and generating international headlines and widespread public outrage.
Take Action: Tell Alberta and Canada to Stop Toxic Tailings Pollution Now!
Dr Kevin Timoney’s report reveals that:
1. The AER only inspected 3% of reported tailings spills.
The regulator’s data shows that in 97% of cases where a company signals a tailings spill, the regulator does not investigate further. Instead, it asks the company to self-report the volume of the spill, the impact it had on the environment, and whether it has been fully cleaned up. This means the vast majority of the information regarding spills that the regulator posts on its website are unverified claims made by oil companies.
2. The AER’s public data is often false or incomplete.
Dr Timoney systematically compared each reported spill on the regulator’s public website with the internal documents, and found major inconsistencies. First, while the AER publicly says there were 514 spills over the 10-year time period, its internal data lists almost double that, at 989. Then, there are instances where the publicly disclosed spill volume is false, like when it said 44.6 million litres of toxic tailings were spilled while its internal data showed it was 100 times larger – closer to 4.5 billion litres. Finally, Dr Timoney found numerous examples of tailings spills location being obviously wrong, like when the geographical coordinates the company entered for a spill were the coordinates for an administrative building far away from any tailing pond or pipeline.
3. The AER lied about the environmental impact of spills
The regulator’s public database claims that for the period Dr Timoney analyzed, there was no negative environmental impact caused by tailings spills. Dr Timoney reviewed every piece of photographic evidence companies provided when they reported a spill, and found that in over half, there was visible environmental degradation in the picture. For example, pictures show dead vegetation or tailings spills reaching natural water bodies. Since not all companies provide photographic evidence when they report spills, the real damage caused by tailings spills is likely much greater than what Dr Timoney observed.
Tailings Ponds. These vast toxic lakes are completely unlined and nearly a dozen of them lie on either side of the Athabasca River. Individual ponds can range in size up to 8,850 acres.
The Alberta and federal government must immediately step in to correct the AER’s failures
The lack of accurate public information is a huge risk for nearby communities, most of which are Indigenous, as they have no way to know the degree to which their water, land and any game they harvest is contaminated. The spills, combined with decades of unmonitored tailings leaks, mean that the full health impacts of the oil sands on communities remains unknown, although communities already experience high rates of rare cancers and respiratory diseases.
The Alberta Energy Regulator is failing its mandate to protect communities and the environment and must be reformed or replaced by an effective regulator that is truly independent from fossil fuel interests. Meanwhile, the federal government must step in and increase its inspection of oil sands mines, which it currently conducts at half the frequency that for metal mines, to charge companies for their toxic leaks and spills. Finally, the Alberta and federal governments must demand that oil sands operators produce science-based plans that show how companies will clean up their toxic tailings waste, and enforce these plans on strict timelines to avoid further devastation.
Take Action: Tell Alberta and Canada to Stop Toxic Tailings Pollution Now!
