The regulator says that the amount of toxins is still below the guidelines for protecting aquatic life
Alberta’s energy regulator has confirmed that dangerous chemicals are in a small body of water after two releases of wastewater from Imperial Oil’s Kearl oilsands mine that was contaminated with tailings.
In a Tuesday update, the agency said that hydrocarbons and naphthenic acids have been found in a fish-bearing lake that is almost entirely on Imperial’s lease about 70 kilometers north of Fort McMurray.
“Test results from April 3 showed that F2 hydrocarbons and naphthenic acids were present at the two sampling sites closest to the seep,” the regulator said in a statement. “These parts could be signs of industrial wastewater in a fish-bearing body of water on the northeastern edge of Imperial’s Kearl lease,” the report says.
The petrochemicals that are lighter are F2 hydrocarbons. Naphthenic acids are made when petrochemicals break down, and they are usually found in the waste from oilsands.
The lake is less than a quarter of a square kilometer in size and is close to where the releases took place.
The person in charge of regulating said that the levels of these toxins are still below the limits that are set to protect aquatic life.
“Right now, there are no signs of a change in the quality of drinking water, and no bad effects on fish or wildlife have been seen,” the regulator said. “It’s too soon to draw any conclusions from these test results, and more tests are being done right now.”
A representative for Imperial Oil said that these chemicals have not been found where the lake empties into a stream that flows into the Firebag River.
In a Wednesday update, the company said that there are still no signs that wildlife or fish are being affected.
Environment Canada had already told Imperial that it needed to take action to stop the chemicals from getting into fish-bearing waters, which would be against the Fisheries Act. This law makes it illegal to put harmful things into water that fish live in.
Marti Olszynski, a resource law professor at the University of Calgary, said that the regulator’s decision could affect whether or not Imperial is charged under the act.
He said, “They talk very clearly about industrial waste water.” “Not just influenced by bitumen, but also wastewater from factories.”
He said that it doesn’t matter how much pollution is in the water where the fish live.
“It doesn’t matter what kinds of amounts are being found.”
Olszynski said that the regulator talks about “potential” signs of wastewater, which suggests that the chemicals haven’t been linked to the Imperial release in a clear way.
He said, “It’s hard to tell how much work that word is doing.”
In May, Imperial found discolored water coming out of one of its tailings ponds. Since then, it has been confirmed that the water was contaminated by oilsands tailings in the groundwater.
In February, another 5.3 million liters of wastewater that had been contaminated by tailings leaked out of a catchment pond.
Even though Imperial has built new trenches and put in pumps to stop it from spreading, the seepage is still happening.