EDMONTON — Imperial Oil has been ordered to pay a $120,000 penalty after pleading guilty to violating a condition of its environmental approval following a 2023 industrial wastewater overflow at its Kearl oilsands mine north of Fort McMurray.
The penalty stems from an incident in which nearly 5.2 million litres of industrial wastewater overflowed from a drainage pond at the Kearl Oil Sands Processing Plant and Mine, located about 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
The Alberta Energy Regulator said Alberta Court of Justice ordered the penalty after Imperial Oil Resources Limited pleaded guilty on May 29 to contravening a term or condition of its approval under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.
Of the total penalty, $2,000 is a fine, including a victim fine surcharge, while the remaining $118,000 will be directed to a court-ordered creative sentencing project.
According to the regulator, the project must provide demonstrable benefits to Alberta public lands, Indigenous traditional territory within Alberta, wetlands or surrounding ecosystems, including vegetation, mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, invertebrates and other species.
The charge stemmed from an industrial wastewater overflow reported to the regulator on Feb. 4, 2023.
Court documents indicate the wastewater spread onto surrounding ground, reaching as far as 200 metres from the pond before freezing.
An agreed statement of facts filed with the court states the wastewater did not enter tributaries feeding the nearby Firebag River. Testing conducted by both Imperial and the Alberta Energy Regulator found no evidence the overflow reached the river system.
According to the agreed statement of facts, the overflow was linked to issues involving water-level monitoring and sediment accumulation within the pond system.
The pond stores runoff, precipitation and a small amount of industrial wastewater generated by mine operations. Water collected in the pond is reused in the production process.
Court documents state the overflow is believed to have begun on Jan. 30, 2023, and continued for approximately 24 hours before being discovered several days later.
The agreed statement of facts indicates sediment accumulation over time affected the effectiveness of monitoring systems designed to track water levels. Imperial had been using manual inspections and pumping procedures to manage water levels at the facility before the incident occurred.
The company has since undertaken remediation and operational changes.
Imperial said in a statement it has taken steps to prevent a similar incident from occurring again, including reprogramming equipment, updating sediment management processes, increasing inspections and expanding training.
“We sincerely regret that this incident occurred and have taken actions to investigate and implement changes to prevent reoccurrence,” the company said.
Imperial said no water from the overflow entered rivers and there continues to be no indication of adverse impacts to local wildlife.
Court records indicate the company has spent approximately $2 million on remediation work since the incident. Cleanup efforts included dredging the pond, installing sediment retention traps and upgrading monitoring and pumping systems. Pumps are now activated automatically.
The Kearl mine is one of Canada’s largest oilsands operations, covering approximately 130 square kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray.
The conviction was registered under section 227(e) of Alberta’s Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, which makes it an offence to contravene a term or condition of an approval issued under the legislation.
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