The federal government is providing bottled water to First Nations communities located in close proximity to a toxic water leak from an oil-sands site in northern Alberta, says Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu.
Hajdu made the announcement at a press conference in Ottawa on March 20, where she and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault addressed the toxic, tailings-contaminated water leakage onto Crown lands from the Kearl Oil Sands Mine owned by Imperial Oil Resources Limited, which is Canada’s largest petroleum refiner.
Imperial reported an initial spill at the site to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) in May 2022 and another in early February 2023. AER did not inform the federal government of either leak until Feb. 7, 2023….