The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has issued a $22,000 penalty to CST Canada Coal following an unauthorized release of mine wastewater.
Roughly 107,100 litres were released into the Smoky River in the Grande Cache area on Dec. 29, 2022.
“Although expected to recover naturally, there was actual impact to a water body with short-term impacts on localized areas in the aquatic environment,” the AER stated in its decision.
The AER, which became aware of the incident on Jan. 2, 2023, noted CST Canada Coal was only authorized to release mine wastewater in approved water handling facilities and contravened its approval under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.
The wastewater was intended to flow through a reclaim bypass line into a cell of the plant site settling pond, but because the line was frozen, the wastewater was diverted to the reclaim line leading to the pump house. The pump house sensor gave an incorrect reading due to material buildup and failed to trigger the high-level alarm.
“CST staff were unaware that the pump house sump was full until it overflowed, and the mine wastewater travelled around the Milner pump house and into the Smoky River,” the decision stated. “The mine wastewater also entered the Milner pump house through the intake.”
An AER water quality specialist determined that total suspended solids and associated metals exceeded provincial guidelines. There was also a “low” impact on the Milner pump house.
Coal wastewater is known to have detrimental effects on fish and aquatic ecosystems. Selenium is a common pollutant from coal mining and can potentially cause deformities and reproductive failure for fish. Coal mining pollutants can also interrupt seasonal migrations and lead to extirpation in affected watersheds.
The AER stated a penalty was assessed based on the potential for a contravention to cause an adverse effect rather than the actual adverse effect it may have caused.
“In this case, the actual impacts to the environment were short-term and localized,” the decision stated. “However, had CST not discovered and contained the release when it did, the impacts could have been greater on the aquatic environment.”
In addition to concerns about rock wall instabilities at the mine, CST is also being investigated for a separate spill into the Smoky River that occurred on March 4, 2023.
AER spokesperson Coral Hulse said in an email this file was currently in the enforcement decision phase, but due to the ongoing investigation, no further information could be provided.
Hulse also noted the regulator works to identify ways to prevent further incidents from happening.
“This includes educating operators on our requirements, improving industry best practices, and conducting audits and inspections to ensure operators are compliant with all regulatory requirements,” Hulse said. “If we discover a company is not following the AER’s requirements we will use one of our many enforcement tools.”
CST did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kennedy Halvorson, a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association, said it was “surprising yet welcome” to see the AER issuing a fine, noting they often issue warning letters instead.
“What's interesting, I find, about this fine for CST Coal is the fine was $22,000; the bulk of it was for failing to report to the AER, and then there was a little bit allocated for actual harm to the environment,” Halvorson said.
Out of the total fine, $3,500 was for the environmental impact and the remaining $17,500 was for not reporting the incident for five days. Halvorson compared this penalty to the $50,000 fine issued to Imperial Oil in relation to an oil sand tailings seepage.
“Because these fines are so infrequent, it's hard to tell how effective they are, but it's also unclear how the AER even determines them, considering the CST Coal one was for [not reporting] a spill for five days, whereas Imperial’s was for 10 months,” she said. “I think maybe it just speaks to the larger issues with our regulator right now.”
Halvorson explained the regulator’s lack of transparency had led to the degradation of trust. She cited recent research that showed that oil sand tailings spills have been significantly underreported.
“We're often told in Alberta that we have the most stringent environmental rules in the world or the best environmental monitoring, and I think we see time and time again that that simply can't be true,” she said. “And if it were true, then I would feel bad for the rest of the world because we have very poor environmental standards.”
