.png)
The Suncor tar sands processing plant near the Athabasca River at their mining operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, September 17, 2014. REUTERS/Todd Korol Aug 18 (Reuters) – Canada’s oil sands mining industry on Thursday outlined proposals to release treated water from tailings ponds into northern Alberta’s Athabasca River, a move environmental groups say risks damaging one of the world’s largest freshwater deltas. Unlike other extractive industries in Canada, oil sands firms are not allowed to release treated tailings water. New federal regulations, expected to be finalised in 2025, will govern how tailings could be safely drained into the Athabasca, a 1,231 km river that originates in the Canadian Rockies and flows into Lake Athabasca. Tailings – a toxic mix of water, clay, sand, residual bitumen and trace metals – are a byproduct of extracting bitumen from mined oil sands and are stored in huge engineered ponds, some of which have been accumulating water since the 1960s. The total volume of oil sands tailings grew to 1.36 trillion cubic metres in 2020, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator, from 1.07 trillion cubic metres in 2017. Industry members say companies need to be able to treat and release the water so […]
CamTrader offers a preview only. View original article. www.reuters.com
