Alberta regulator fines Imperial Oil over tailings leak

Alberta Energy Regulator announced on Thursday that it had imposed a C$50,000 administrative penalty ($36,764.71) against Imperial Oil for a toxic tailings spill at Kearl Oil Sands Mine. The leak lasted months.

The AER also requested that the Canadian energy company submit two reports in order to increase awareness of the leaks. One report will focus on monitoring and mitigating seepage, and the second on the possible impacts of the release industrial wastewater.

Exxon Mobil, which owns the Kearl Mine of Imperial, has been leaking toxic tailings for several months. It was only discovered when the company reported another leak in February 2018.

The toxic tailings containing metals, bitumen, water and silt had angered the local indigenous communities who hunted and fished on the lands downstream from Canada's Oil Sands Mines.

AER released the first results of its investigation into the leakage Thursday. It said that a shallow route under the ground from industrial wastewater sources on lease bypassed the existing deep-groundwater seepage prevention systems, causing the tailings to be released.

The regulator stated that no impact on fish, amphibians, or other wildlife has been reported to date and that the investigation into the leakage will continue. ($1 = 1.3600 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

(source: Reuters)