Alberta researchers call for public inquiry into program to ensure oilsands cleanup
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Alberta university researchers are calling for an open public inquiry into a provincial program designed to ensure oilsands producers can pay to clean up after themselves.
They say the agreement at an international climate meeting to transition away from fossil fuels makes it all the more imperative that there’s enough money left to clean up tailings ponds and other impacts when the mines complete their useful life.
Co-author Martin Olszynski at the University of Calgary says the government’s current plan allows companies to delay paying for remediation until production starts to decline — meaning there will be less money for cleanup just as it starts to be needed.
He says the current tailings pond plans are scientifically unproven and won’t return the land to something that can be used for other purposes.
