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Dene National Chief George Mackenzie says “more severe sanctions and penalties” should be imposed on Imperial Oil over major tailings leaks in 2023.
The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is already suing the Alberta Energy Regulator for failing to notify the nation of two large leaks of toxic tailings from Imperial Oil’s Kearl site in northern Alberta.
Various NWT communities are also downstream of those spills.
Last month, ACFN Chief Allan Adam called a $50,000 fine imposed on Imperial by the AER “ridiculously small.”
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The regulator has said that fine relates to only one aspect of what went wrong, and does not “encompass all potential contraventions that may have occurred at Kearl.” Other investigations are ongoing, the AER said.
On Tuesday, Mackenzie – voted into the position of Dene national chief in July – said he was “outraged” by what had taken place at Kearl and such spills could not be allowed to keep occurring.
“The Kearl Lake Mine spill is yet another example of the failure of industry and government to truly work with Indigenous peoples on issues of environmental stewardship and protection of Indigenous rights,” Mackenzie wrote in a statement.
“It is commendable that the AER has fined Imperial Oil and demanded remediation of the sites. However, the reality is that industry can afford a $50,000 fine when that site makes 277,000 barrels of oil per day.
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“It is not enough to provide a written order to comply with environmental regulations. The Dene must be in control of how these areas are remediated, what compensations are provided, and the decisions on how oil is extracted that impact the wellness of the lands and our people.”
The Dene Nation said it is planning a “follow-up water conference to address impacts of industry on Denendeh waters” after holding a water summit last year, just weeks after the Kearl spills became public knowledge.
At that summit, delegates debated legal action and recommended more research into the oil sands’ human health impacts.
