Danielle Smith demands ‘radical transparency’ after Imperial Oil spill in northern Alberta

EDMONTON—Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is calling on one of her province’s major oil companies to do a better job of communicating with the public, in the wake of recent allegations that leaks of oilsands waste were not divulged to First Nations and the Northwest Territories.

It was reported last week that the Kearl Lake oilsands facility in northern Alberta, operated by Calgary-based Imperial Oil, had seen two leaks in the past year — including one that a local First Nation chief said wasn’t revealed to him for months.

Asked by reporters about criticisms levelled at the company and the province for failing to notify the Northwest Territories and local First Nations, Smith said she expected “radical transparency” from the company in the future.

“I’m pleased to report that none of this spill got into the tributaries, which means it didn’t get into the river, which means it didn’t get into drinking water,” said Smith.

“It doesn’t absolve the company from needing to do a better job to communicate that to the public, and I think the regulator did its job by demanding a very quick resolution to this.”

Last May, an unknown amount of seepage from an oilsands tailings pond was reported to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER). Such seepage has high levels of iron, arsenic and sulphates, among other potentially toxic substances.

Locals and upset government officials from the N.W.T. said last week they were let down by Imperial Oil and the AER after it was revealed that a potentially dangerous leak had happened months ago and continued for months.

In a subsequent incident on Jan. 31 of this year, a 5.3-million-litre leak of wastewater from a Kearl tailings pond was also reported to the regulator.

Last Thursday, Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation said the ACFN was “disappointed and dismayed” over the perceived failures of Imperial and the energy regulator.

“We take these leaks very seriously,” he said in a statement. “We have land users in that area that hunt and fish and have harvested animals that could have been exposed to those deadly toxins.”

Adam said a notice had gone out to their members telling them not to eat any food collected after May 2022, adding that the First Nation had ordered its own sample collection from the site.

Adam said he didn’t learn of the leak reported in May 2022 until Feb. 6, when the AER issued an environmental protection order, even though the company had many opportunities to notify the First Nation.

“For nine months Imperial and the Alberta Energy Regulator have endangered the environment, our Nation and the public by covering up the leaks,” he said.

“Each meeting was an opportunity where they could have come clean, but they chose to hide the fact from us over and over again,” Adam told reporters last week.

Shane Thompson, environment minister of the Northwest Territories, said the Alberta government broke an agreement with the territory by not telling it about the spill. The N.W.T. is downstream of the oilsands.

“This lack of transparency and information sharing from our Alberta partners is not an isolated incident, which increases our frustration in this matter,” he said in a release.

While there is a “joint responsibility” between the provincial regulator and Imperial to communicate when spills happen — even if it’s just to reassure people — Smith said the company carries much of that weight and that “it actually is in law that it’s the company’s job to communicate with stakeholders.

“We will be holding them to that standard,” she said.

Imperial Oil released a statement on Monday apologizing for the incident.

“First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest apologies for this incident. Cleanup is well advanced, and we are taking all necessary steps to prevent this from happening again,” said Simon Younger, senior vice-president of upstream at Imperial.

“Imperial has always been dedicated to transparently communicating with our community partners, including local Indigenous communities, as they rightly expect. We recognize that we have fallen short of these expectations, and we are committed to rebuilding trust by keeping them regularly informed of our operations as we continue addressing this issue.”

The company said that “significant progress” has been made on cleaning up the Jan. 31 incident.

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