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Event Sponsor: ALS Environmental

Coffee Break Sponsors: AGAT Laboratories, Bureau Veritas and Parsons

Breakfast Sponsor: Element
Lunch Sponsor: Barr

ESAA is pleased to announce that the draft agenda for the ESAA PFAS Symposium is now available.

PFAS, PFOS and other forever chemicals are widely used, long lasting chemicals, components of which break down very slowly over time.  These chemicals are now everywhere in the environment (soil, water and blood streams of people and animals).  Remediation and management of PFAS-contaminated sites are very challenging and complex, and the removal of PFAS from the broader environment is not currently possible.

This one day symposium will feature 18 speakers spread over 5 panel discussions each focussing on a different aspect of this growing issue.

• Science of PFAS
• Legal Aspects
• Testing
• Risk Management
• Treatment

Additional details, limited sponsorship opportunities, limited company pop-up banner opportunities and to register visit:https://esaa.org/events/pfas/

“They knew there was seepage to groundwater,” said Mandy Olsgard, an environmental toxicologist who has consulted for area First Nations.

“The (Alberta Energy Regulator) and Imperial decided not to notify the public and just manage it internally.”

Imperial said in a statement that seepage was anticipated in Kearl’s original design. Spokeswoman Lisa Schmidt said the company has kept both the regulator and area communities informed.

“We have been working to address the areas of shallow seepage from our operating lease area,” she said. “We recognize there are concerns regarding water quality, and we take this very seriously.”

Alberta Energy Regulator spokeswoman Lauren Stewart said the agency is committed to strong oversight of the Kearl site.

“It is of upmost priority that downstream water continues to remain safe, and any potential impacts to the public are both mitigated and communicated transparently,” she said in an e-mail.

“During this period, there were no signs that indicated the system was not functioning according to its intended design.”

Olsgard points to groundwater monitoring reports filed by Imperial to the regulator. The 2020 and 2021 documents acknowledge tailings were seeping from the ponds that were supposed to contain them. The tailings were detected at monitoring wells within the mine’s lease area, about 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.

Earlier studies suggest those results could have been influenced by natural variation or chemical processes in the soil. The 2021 document says little room for doubt remained.

“(Process affected water) seepage, or potential early arrival of (such water), was reported at 11 monitoring locations in 2021, indicated by trends and/or (control objective) exceedances in multiple (key indicator parameters),” it says.

Substances found at concentrations above desired limits included naphthenic acids, dissolved solids and sulphates – a common proxy for hydrocarbon residue. Oil sands tailings are considered toxic to fish and other wildlife.

In May 2022, the seepage was reported to First Nations and communities as discoloured water pooling on the surface. They received little information after that until last February, when the regulator issued environmental protection orders against Imperial – and then only after 5.3 million litres of contaminated waste water escaped from a holding pond.

Olsgard said the regulator had reports of seepage as early as 2019. Imperial had instituted a “seepage interception system” in 2015.

Stewart acknowledged seepage had been confirmed.

“Imperial initiated, and (the regulator) confirmed, mitigation activities that included activation of the (seepage interception system) and adding more pumping wells,” she said.

Four pumping wells activated in 2021 to contain the seepage “diverted” more than a billion litres of groundwater, says the report. After that, key parameters dropped or stabilized at “most” locations.

“These original interception pumping wells were first activated in early 2021 in response to the detection of process affected water above control objectives, in accordance with approved operating procedures,” Schmidt said.

“Imperial shared this information with the (regulator) and communities in early 2021 and has provided annual updates.”

Groundwater in the area moves at between three and 27 metres a year. Some evidence suggests tailings have seeped off the lease.

Data filed to the oil sands Monitoring Program shows sulphates at a sampling station in the Muskeg River began climbing drastically in March 2022. Within a year, they were 18 times higher than the 2021 average.

That sampling station is south of the Kearl lease. The releases that trigged the protection order were on the north side.

Schmidt said those readings were unrelated to tailings.

Stewart said Imperial has increased its monitoring frequency and is working to understand the extent of the release.

The seepage at Kearl continues. Data posted on the regulator’s website shows several test wells continue to show hydrocarbon levels in surface water that exceed provincial environmental guidelines.

“There is no indication of adverse impacts to wildlife or fish populations in nearby river systems or risks to drinking water for local communities,” Schmidt said.

Over the summer, Imperial expanded Kearl’s seepage interception with additional pumps and drainage structures. Monitoring continues.

“The (regulator) did not stop the seepage in 2022 and they didn’t acknowledge it since 2019,” Mikisew Cree First Nation Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro said in a statement.

“They say they have contained the seepage. They have not. The fact that they did not tell us about the seepage for nine months is the tip of the iceberg.”

Both the Mikisew and the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation use the area outside the mine lease for traditional activities such as hunting and gathering. Both nations are downstream of the mine and say they fear for their water quality.

On Wednesday, the regulator’s board released a third-party report by Deloitte into how the agency handled communications around the releases. Although it found the regulator followed its rules, it concluded those rules were outdated, vague and had significant gaps.

Olsgard said Deloitte’s investigation was specifically limited to events occurring after May 2022.

“They were not being given the authority to go back to 2019, when I think the groundwater was being contaminated.”

Imperial’s actions are also being probed by regulator staff as well as federal investigators.

Tuccaro said the regulator has denied Mikisew’s request for a stop-work order at Kearl. He called that a double standard.

“The Alberta Utilities Commission and the Alberta government had no problem instituting a moratorium on renewable energy projects, but they won’t take simple regulatory measures in the face of a known human and environmental health problem.”

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation has called for the federal government to step in.

“We do not believe that the Kearl leak was an isolated incident, and we do not believe the regulator would inform the public if another incident occurred,” the band said in a statement.

The First Nation also has called for a full technical audit of oil sands tailings facilities as well as a long-term study of health impacts.

Schmidt said Imperial acknowledges shortcomings.

“We recognize that our communication in the past has not met communities’ expectations and we are working with communities to improve our communications.”

“Hazardous waste and hazardous recyclable materials are harmful to the global environment and to human health. Canada is taking action to make sure that these materials, including e‑waste, are not sent to countries that do not want them, or that do not have the necessary infrastructure to deal with them in an environmentally sound manner.”
– The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

• Controlling e-waste through the Prior Informed Consent Procedure, which requires that exporting countries seek the consent of transit and importing countries before exporting controlled wastes, is important, as e-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world and contains substances of concern, such as mercury, lead, and brominated flame retardants.

• The Basel Convention is a multilateral environmental agreement with the goal of protecting human health and the environment from the dangers posed by transboundary movement and disposal of hazardous waste and hazardous recyclable material.

• In June 2022, the Basel Convention was amended to include the control of non-hazardous electrical and electronic waste (e-waste). The proposed regulatory changes published today will ensure that Canadian rules align with the obligations in the Convention as the current Regulations do not cover all e-waste. 

Caribou recovery program at Jasper National Park aims to boost herd numbers in Alberta

(Source: CBC News)  Conservationists are starting a new recovery program aiming to strengthen caribou herds in Jasper National Park that are too small to recover on their own. 

Partnering with B.C.-based consulting firm Landmark Solutions, the Parks Canada Caribou Recovery Program is the first of its kind for Canada, according to program manager Jean-Francois Bisaillon. 

“It’s been done in Finland and portions of that project have been done elsewhere, but this is really unprecedented and very exciting for Parks Canada,” Bisaillon said. 

Joshua Kummerfield, a project manager for Parks Canada, said the organization has a mandate to protect and recover caribou.

Conservation breeding, he said, can efficiently strengthen the four herds most prominent in Jasper, beginning with the Tonquin and Brazeau herds.

“The intent of that is to bring caribou in, breed them, raise them in a protected area from predators and then release them back into the wild,” Kummerfield said. 

The facility is situated on roughly 65 hectares of land just a few kilometres away from Tonquin Valley, said Kummerfield. It will be staffed by up to six full-time workers throughout the year, tasked with taking care of around 40 female caribou and eight male caribou.

Once caribou breed and give birth to their calves, they will stay at the facility for a little more than one year before being flown into Tonquin Valley, where they will be released into the wild. 

The hope, Kummerfield said, is that the animals will become self-reliant enough to survive on their own and repopulate in a more natural environment.

“The caribou that are going to be released after a year-and-a-half of life, we want those caribou to be more wild,” he said.

“We don’t want them to be habituated.”

There are separate pens for cows and bulls, and dedicated pens to be used during breeding time. There are also separate pens for the calves and yearlings.

Helping parks staff to support the Caribou Recovery Program are members from Mountain Cree and Kelly Lake Cree Nation who will be sharing their knowledge of traditional methods of caribou management.

The federal agency reached out to partners in the fall of 2019 to discuss the plans for Jasper.

Frank Roan, a representative from Mountain Cree, said he’s happy to see Parks Canada involve Indigenous partners in the project because it’s providing an opportunity for their traditional knowledge to help the slowly diminishing caribou population flourish again.

Caribou are significant in the lives of Indigenous populations culturally and as a food source.

“Any time we can preserve anything of significance is a bonus for us,” Roan said.

While construction remains on schedule and on budget, Kummerfield said there’s still work to be done in order to get the facility ready to welcome its first few caribou by Parks Canada’s January 2025 deadline.

Workers spent last winter clearing the area of dead pine trees and this is expected to continue this November and December. The installation of underground water, electric and septic infrastructure is also complete, but construction of the facility is ongoing.

Kummerfield said the breeding grounds will consist of a kitchen, meeting room, private office, staff accommodations, medical lab, change rooms, mud room and a necropsy room to examine dead caribou.

It will also include more than 33 pens for caribou in different life stages.

The plan is to breed caribou at the facility over the next 20 years, which staff said is vital to ensure herd sizes can grow to healthy levels.

Roan wants to see Parks Canada continue its collaboration with Indigenous partners moving forward.

“Not that long ago, we weren’t allowed at the table — now we’re allowed,” he said.