There are over one trillion litres of toxic waste stored in large tailings ponds in Alberta, Canada. In fact, they are so large that they can be seen from space. These tailings ponds, however, are leaking into the local environment and poisoning the food and water supply.1
Alberta’s tailings ponds – a term used by the industry – are Canada’s dirty oil secret. They show how much of oil’s waste-product is like a time-bomb waiting to cause havoc on some of the world’s most pristine ecosystems.
What are tailings ponds?
Alberta’s oil sands in Canada are the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves. They are the main reason that Canada is the world’s fourth-largest oil-producing country.2 But, Alberta produces a product called bitumen – eventually refined into oil through oil sands mining – that is even more toxic due to the large amount of waste by-product. For every barrel of bitumen extracted in Alberta from oil sands, the industry produces 1.5 barrels of non-recyclable material called tailings.3
This is what the oil industry calls ‘oil sands tailings’: a mixture of water (50 per cent), suspended sand, clay and residual bitumen.4 There is not a lot that oil sands companies can do with the waste. These tailings are stored in massive open-air ponds that we can see from space. Over the past five decades, nearly 1.3 trillion litres of liquid have accumulated here. The aim is to let the bitumen settle and separate from the water, but the process can take years. Therefore, the ponds only get bigger.5 These newly developed ponds are often referred to as fluid tailings.
In the past 10 years alone, the volume of toxic waste stored in tailings ponds has nearly doubled from 732 billion litres to 1.3 trillion litres. This is enough to fill more than 500,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, covering a total area of 85 square miles (220 square kilometres).6
How do tailings ponds cause pollution?
Oil companies say that tailings ponds are secure storage areas for the toxic waste from oil sands. But, that has proven not to be the case. In fact, Alberta’s vast tailings ponds have been called “a nasty challenge that can’t be ignored”.7
But, the problem with oil sands tailings ponds isn’t just that they exist, but how they were formed. Alberta’s oil sands industry destroys large areas of pristine wildlife and forest areas to explore. Canada’s boreal forest is one of Earth’s important ecological treasures. Yet, industrial development and forest fires in the region have destroyed or degraded almost two million acres of boreal forest in the past 20 years.8 The tailings management and oil sands mining clearly has an effect on the environment and climate change at least through the degradation of Canadian forests. This, combined with leakages from oil sands mining, was one of the central reasons that the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) launched a probe that discovered that oil sands “contaminate aquifers” and have environmental consequences.
Deforestation destroys wildlife; it degrades the soil and reduces the Earth’s capacity to turn carbon dioxide back into oxygen. It speeds up climate change.9
Even worse, the whole process uses up large amounts of vital freshwater. To produce a barrel of oil from the oil sands (sometimes referred to as tar sands outside of Canada), the industry needs three to four barrels of freshwater, mostly from the Athabasca River.10 The water from tailings ponds is recycled, but the process can take a number of years.
The extraction and treatment of oil sands also emit greenhouse gases, such as sulfur, carbon dioxide and methane. These gases trap heat in the atmosphere and warm up the planet, making us more susceptible to climate change.11
Are oil sands poisoning the environment?
We also know that the tailings ponds are leaking their toxic sludge into the groundwater, according to an investigation backed by the Canadian, US and Mexican governments.12
Critics say that just one major breach at one of the toxic ponds could hit rivers, wildlife and communities downstream, potentially poisoning them.13
“The oil sands industry has been destructive to the environment and our communities in the region”, says Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action.14
“The [oil sands industry] had a huge impact on caribou, bison, moose, birds, fish, the water, the forest. It’s affected our ability to travel, to gather food from the land – it’s really overwhelming”, says Deranger, a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation located near Fort Chipewyan, north of Fort McMurray.15 The toxic waste ponds have long attracted and killed migrating birds, according to environmental reports. And yet, despite assurances that the ponds would shrink in size and be phased out, they have only grown in volume instead.16
Who will pay for the cleanup? The government of Alberta has collected just CAD $1 billion towards that goal – even though it is estimated to cost at least 100 times that amount.17
Alberta’s oil sands industry is building and storing a time-bomb that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later.
Sources
- Narwhal, T. (n.d.). It’s official: Alberta’s oilsands tailings ponds are leaking. Now what? [online] The Narwhal. Available at: https://thenarwhal.ca/tailings-ponds-leaking-alberta-oilsands/.
- Investopedia. (2019). The World’s Top Oil Producers of 2019. [online] Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/investing/worlds-top-oil-producers/.
- Grant, J., Angen, E. and Dyer, S. (2013). Forecasting the impacts of oilsands expansion Measuring the land disturbance, air quality, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and tailings production associated with each barrel of bitumen production. [online] . Available at: https://www.pembinainstitute.org/reports/oilsands-metrics.pdf [Accessed 22 Feb. 2021].
- Energyeducation.ca. (2018). Oil sands tailings ponds – Energy Education. [online] Available at: https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Oil_sands_tailings_ponds.
- Pembina Institute (2018). Oilsands tailings ponds are a nasty challenge that can’t be ignored. [online] Pembina Institute. Available at: https://www.pembina.org/op-ed/oilsands-tailing-ponds-are-nasty-challenge-cant-be-ignored.
- Pembina Institute (2018). Oilsands tailings ponds are a nasty challenge that can’t be ignored. [online] Pembina Institute. Available at: https://www.pembina.org/op-ed/oilsands-tailing-ponds-are-nasty-challenge-cant-be-ignored.
- Pembina Institute (2018). Oil sands tailings ponds are a nasty challenge that can’t be ignored. [online] Pembina Institute. Available at: https://www.pembina.org/op-ed/oilsands-tailing-ponds-are-nasty-challenge-cant-be-ignored.
- World Resources Institute. (2018). Tar Sands Threaten World’s Largest Boreal Forest. [online] Available at: https://www.wri.org/blog/2014/07/tar-sands-threaten-world-s-largest-boreal-forest.
- Braun, I. (2021). What Are the Consequences of Deforestation? [online] Action Aid Recycling. Available at: https://actionaidrecycling.org.uk/what-are-the-consequences-of-deforestation/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2021].
- Canada, N.R. (2016). Oil Sands: Water Management. [online] www.nrcan.gc.ca. Available at: https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/publications/18750.
- Small, C.C., Cho, S., Hashisho, Z. and Ulrich, A.C. (2015). Emissions from oil sands tailings ponds: Review of tailings pond parameters and emission estimates. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 127, pp.490–501.
- Narwhal, T. (n.d.). It’s official: Alberta’s oilsands tailings ponds are leaking. Now what? [online] The Narwhal. Available at: https://thenarwhal.ca/tailings-ponds-leaking-alberta-oilsands/.
- One trillion litres of toxic waste and growing. (n.d.). [online] . Available at: https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/media-uploads/albertatailingspondsreportfinal.pdf.
- Environment. (2019). Alberta, Canada’s oil sands is the world’s most destructive oil operation—and it’s growing. [online] Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/alberta-canadas-tar-sands-is-growing-but-indigenous-people-fight-back.
- National Observer. (2018). Alberta officials are signalling they have no idea how to clean up toxic oilsands tailings ponds. [online] Available at: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/11/23/news/alberta-officials-are-signalling-they-have-no-idea-how-clean-toxic-oilsands-tailings.
- National Observer. (2018). Alberta officials are signalling they have no idea how to clean up toxic oilsands tailings ponds. [online] Available at: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/11/23/news/alberta-officials-are-signalling-they-have-no-idea-how-clean-toxic-oilsands-tailings.
- National Observer. (2018). Alberta officials are signalling they have no idea how to clean up toxic oilsands tailings ponds. [online] Available at: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/11/23/news/alberta-officials-are-signalling-they-have-no-idea-how-clean-toxic-oilsands-tailings.