Draining tailings into Athabasca River one solution under review in oilpatch, says Guilbeault

Releasing treated oilsands tailings into the environment isn’t the only solution being considered to clean up the massive toxic ponds in northern Alberta, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says.

Guilbeault said Wednesday that even though his government is developing regulations on how the tailings could be drained into the Athabasca River, other solutions are under review.

“We’ve never said that this is the only solution we’re contemplating,” he said. “We haven’t ruled out the possibility of finding technical solutions to tailings ponds issues.”

Guilbeault’s comments came as investigators from UNESCO arrived in Alberta to consider threats to Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada’s largest.

The investigators are to assess whether federal and provincial efforts to stop the park’s environmental slide are enough to prevent the UN agency from placing the park on its list of World Heritage Sites In Danger — a move the body has already called “likely.”