Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
An environmental group says a coal company's application to deepen its open-pit mine shouldn't be considered while it's under investigation over wastewater releases into local rivers. The Alberta Wilderness Association says CST Canada Coal in Grande Cache, Alta., must prove it can operate safely before the provincial regulator looks at its request.
There has been another spill at Imperial Oil's Kearl facility in northern Alberta, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has confirmed. "On Nov. 13, Imperial Oil reported to EDGE that there had been a release of water with Total Suspended Solids (TSS) more than their approved provincial regulatory limit from a sedimentation pond at their Kearl site," Teresa Broughton of AER wrote in an email to CTV News Edmonton. "Initial reports indicated approximately 670m3 of water was released into the Muskeg River."
A third-party report into the release of millions of litres of oilsands wastewater at Imperial Oil's Kearl mine has found the Alberta Energy Regulator followed its rules in keeping the public and area First Nations informed — but concludes those rules are significantly lacking. "There were no areas of non-adherence to stated policies and procedures," says the Deloitte report, prepared for the regulator's board.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has warned Imperial Oil about more wastewater problems at its Kearl oilsands mine in northern Alberta. The regulator has issued a notice of non-compliance to the company after chemicals associated with oilsands tailings were found at an off-site well at levels that exceed provincial guidelines.
An Australian coal company is withdrawing its plan for a mine in the Crowsnest Pass region of the eastern slopes of Alberta's Rocky Mountains. "The coal mine, in our minds, is a no-go," said Peter Doyle, CEO of Montem Resources, which had proposed to redevelop the Tent Mountain site to produce steelmaking coal. In a letter filed Tuesday, Montem Resources asked the Alberta Energy Regulator to end the environmental impact assessment for the proposal.
Suncor has reported six million litres of water that exceed sediment guidelines have been released into the Athabasca River from a pond at its Fort Hills oilsands mine. "Suncor took action to stop the discharge system and the release has been stopped," said a note from the Alberta Energy Regulator sent to area First Nations on Monday. The note said the water is from a pond used to settle suspended solids in surface water that runs in from various parts of the site. The water has drained from muskeg, rock and soil overlaying the bitumen, material being stored for reclamation and other areas of the site that are undisturbed by mining.
The Alberta Energy Regulator announced on Thursday it issued an environmental protection order for a Calgary-based oil and gas company. The order comes after a joint study from the University of Alberta and Stanford University found an industry link between in situ bitumen recovery and the earthquakes that shook the Peace River region last November.
“It’s definitely a concern expressed by community members seeing changes in water, traditional foods and changes in their health. “More data and information is necessary to answer these questions… but there are toxic sludge and tailings ponds here… these leak into the watershed,” said Lepine. Last summer, APTN News reported on a story where Keepers of the Water, an Indigenous environmental group, raised alarm over the proposed dumping of treated tailings pond water from the Alberta oil industry into the Athabasca River.
The Alberta Energy Regulator says N7 Energy Ltd. has pled guilty to violating the province's Water Act. The regulator says it laid the charge against the Calgary-based oil and gas company in August 2022. According to an agreed statement of facts, in August 2020, N7 Energy started construction activity at a bridge over a creek near Swan Hills, Alta. without prior approval from the regulator.
Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure Ltd. has pleaded guilty to a charge related to the company's release of acidic water in west-central Alberta in October 2019. The Calgary-based company was charged in October 2021 with breaching environmental protection laws by the Alberta Energy Regulator. In an agreed statement of facts, Tidewater acknowledged the release occurred at the company's Ram River sour gas processing plant near Rocky Mountain House.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has laid charges against Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure Ltd. for a release of acidic water in west-central Alberta. The regulator says the release occurred in Oct. 2019 at Tidewater’s Ram River sour gas processing plant near Rocky Mountain House. It says the acidic water flowed into a nearby creek. Calgary-based Tidewater has been charged with 10 violations under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, including releasing a substance to the environment that caused or may have caused an adverse effect.
Less than two months after a spill at an oil pipeline dumped 900,000 litres of contaminated water–so called “produced water”–in northwestern Alberta, there’s been another spill in the oil-rich province. The latest spill, reported at 2 p.m on Christmas Day by a local landowner, occurred near Drayton Valley, a community about 130 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, the province’s capital city. Drayton Valley was the site of a spill–the result of a ruptured pipeline–that dumped 40,000 litres of crude oil into a local creek in August, 2019.
Contaminated water that leaked from an oilfield pipeline on Christmas Day has entered the North Saskatchewan River but has had no detectable impact on it, says a spokesman for Calgary-based oil and gas producer ARC Resources Ltd. The spill was reported by a local landowner at about 2 p.m. last Friday, said Sean Calder, ARC's vice-president of production, in an interview on Tuesday. "We had guys on site within about an hour and then the pipeline was shut in by 4 p.m., I believe," he said.
Husky Energy says 900,000 litres of produced water spilled from one of its pipelines in northwestern Alberta. Produced water is a byproduct of oil and gas extraction and sometimes contains residual petroleum and chemicals. Spokesperson Dawn Delaney says the spill is contained and the company is continuing to clean it up with pumps and vacuum trucks. She said there has been no observed harm to wildlife and fencing has been put up to keep animals away.
