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Syncrude Won't Make Cut: Pembina |
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Written by Carol Christian
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Thursday, 25 March 2010 20:29 |
Today staff
An environmental think-tank says there is no way a tailings plan submitted by Syncrude Canada to the Energy Resources Conservation Board will meet the regulator's requirements.
The Pembina Institute has given the company's tailings plan another look because of the current trial involving the company. Syncrude is three weeks into an expected nine-week trial on federal and provincial charges over the deaths of 1,600 migratory waterfowl in one of its tailings ponds in April 2008.
"When we looked at Syncrude specifically … it's pretty striking and surprising to see that in 2010, that (out of) 840 billion total litres of tailings, 500 (billion) of them are from one company — Syncrude," Pembina's oilsands program director Simon Dyer said.
When all the plans from the mining companies were submitted by the Sept. 30, 2009, deadline, a Pembina review at that time showed only two of the nine submitted plans — the Fort Hills Energy mine and the Suncor Millennium/North Steepbank mine — featured operations in compliance with the directive. Pembina said the other plans did not comply with requirements for the timing of capturing the allotted percentage of fine tailings, and some didn't provide evidence how they would meet trafficability requirements.
"Syncrude takes tailings management very seriously and we reserve comment until we've had a chance to review what Pembina's report says about our plan," countered Cheryl Robb, Syncrude spokeswoman.
The ERCB announced the new rules Feb. 3, 2009 because targets weren't being met in mining applications. All oilsands mining operations requiring the reduction of fluid tailings will be governed by the new rules, which include having dates for construction, use and closure of fluid tailings ponds deposits specified and filed with the board by the September deadline.
Tailings are waste from oilsands extraction processes, generally composed of water, sands, silt, clay and residual bitumen. As the need for long-term containment has grown, so has public concern with each application and approval.
Operators will now be required to reduce wet tailings through fines — mineral solids with particle sizes equal to or less than 44 micrometres — captured in dedicated disposal areas, and building and managing the disposal areas.
Similar to tailings ponds, dedicated disposal areas handle specifically captured fines, which are more solid than wet tailings and are trafficable, meaning people can walk on the areas sooner.
These dedicated areas must be ready for reclamation five years after deposits have stopped.
The ERCB is now reviewing the plans, which are posted on the regulator's website. The next key date for mining companies is Sept. 30, when the first compliance reports for dedicated disposable areas, tailings pond status reports and annual tailings management plans are due.
"We have technical experts in this field to do a full technical review not a cursory analysis. We do a full technical review," ERCB spokesman Bob Curran said.
"It was in-depth review," added Dyer, defending Pembina's analysis. "The companies themselves at present, they're not in compliance, so obviously we encourage the ERCB to do the full review they need to do."
ERCB spokesman Davis Sheremata told Today in September that plans will be sent back to operators for revision if they do not meet requirements.
Once plans are implemented, he said a company will face consequences for not meeting targets outlined in its new tailings directive. That type of enforcement depends on the severity of the infraction, and can include rejection of applications for upgrades or even closing a mine.
It's expected that if Syncrude is found guilty during its trial, both the provincial and federal lawyers will offer sentencing recommendations, but Dyer has little hope for anything truly punitive.
"No expectations at this point," he said. "My understanding is a maximum fine of $800,000. It would suggest the fines aren't actually high enough to act as a deterrent."
It could even be seen as the cost of doing business, he said.
"Do the rules we have in place and the enforcement and the maximum penalties actually act as an effective enough deterrent?" he asked.
"I would suggest thus far, no."
cchristian@fortmcmurraytoday.com
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