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An oil sands mining facility near Fort McKay, Alberta, September 7, 2022. (Ed Jones / AFP via Getty Images) An oil refinery in northern Alberta was recently discovered to have been operating without environmental permits for twenty-two years, demonstrating that the industry extracting the province’s tar sands is a rogue entity that makes its own rules. The Enerchem refinery, located 250 kilometers northwest of Edmonton, has turned tar sands crude into fuel and fluid for fracking and drilling since 2001. It was only subject to an environmental enforcement order on June 20, 2023, according to reporting from the CBC , Canada’s public broadcaster. The order revealed that no approval “has been issued to any person for the construction, operation and reclamation of the plant,” thereby violating the province’s Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act. Despite this finding, the order guarantees that there will be no consequences for its owner, AltaGas, because the plant is permitted to continue operations as it seeks necessary approval. “The idea of a significant industrial development operating without approval for years, it’s off the charts,” commented University of Calgary law professor Nigel Bankes, who described the company’s actions as “negligence” in an interview with CBC. Allowing […]
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