Oilsands companies will soon be faced with new criteria for tailings pond management and enforcement actions should performance targets not be met.

A new draft directive released by the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) will require operators to prepare an operations and abandonment plan for every tailings pond and to act in accordance with their applications. Companies would also be obligated to provide specific dates for pond construction, use, closure and other milestones and to file the dates with the ERCB by December 31, 2008.

However, according to the Pembina Institute, the new draft fails to address risks posed by the production of the tailings ponds.

“Albertans will be justifiably surprised to learn that for the past 40 years, oilsands companies have been allowed to manage their tailings waste on their own accord, without any strict government regulation around benchmarks, timelines or performance standards,” says Pembina Institute policy analyst Jennifer Grant. “While it’s encouraging that the ERCB is now moving to assume more responsibility for addressing the production of toxic tailings waste, this policy falls short of addressing the risks and uncertainties around how tailings waste will be reclaimed into something resembling a boreal forest.”

According to ERCB chair Dan McFadyen, with many oilsands projects not meeting targets for the management of tailings ponds waste set out in their applications to the ERCB, the directive will set firm requirements for oilsands operators to manage their tailings or face enforcement action.

“The ERCB plays a critical role in regulating the oilsands,” McFadyen said in a press release. “Tailings ponds are an important environmental issue in Alberta — and more and more, becoming the focus of national and international attention.”

In 41 years of oilsands mining, the province has only certified 0.2 per cent, or one square kilometre, of the disturbed land as reclaimed. None of the tailings ponds has been reclaimed. Oilsands companies had cleared or mined over 470 square kilometres by the end of 2007 and have leased an additional 3,000 square kilometres for future mining operations. While the ERCB describes tailings ponds as waste “generally composed of water, sands, silt, clay and residual bitumen,” there are a number of toxic chemicals in the waste, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a carcinogen. Oilsands companies produce 1.8 billion litres of tailings pond waste per day.

The ERCB directive, entitled Tailings Performance Criteria and Requirements for Oil Sands Schemes, could see companies found to be in non-compliance of regulations facing an increase in inspections for minor infractions. It might also dictate the complete shutdown of a facility’s operations for more serious violations. According to the ERCB, more than 1,100 shutdowns have been ordered since 2000, with 247 of those occurring in 2007. The length of a shutdown in 2007 ranged from one hour to 194 days.

The ERCB conducted 18 inspections in 2007 and plans to double that number in 2008. While the number of inspections appears to be low, each one takes up to a week to conduct, says ERCB spokesperson Davis Sheremata. The ERCB has retained the services of specialists, who will conduct future inspections that will be more focused and specialized to make sure these facilities are operating in compliance, says Sheremata.

The Pembina Institute would prefer to see the implementation of policies that prohibit the creation of tailings ponds for new projects. Oilsands tailings ponds are “unresolved liabilities” that endanger Alberta’s environment, says Simon Dyer, oilsands program director at the institute. No tailings pond has yet been successfully reclaimed, so the true cost of cleaning up the ponds remains unknown. Oilsands companies, he adds, need to be compelled by strict regulations to develop and implement solutions to the environmental risks and clean-up costs associated with the toxic tailings ponds.

Since 2001, the ERCB’s liability rating program has required energy companies to maintain strict assets versus liabilities to ensure oilsands companies have the funds to clean up energy facilities that are no longer in use. This will make certain that industry, not taxpayers, pay any clean-up costs.