(Edmonton) Alberta’s NDP opposition says the government’s review of the program that’s supposed to ensure oil sands companies can clean up their mines was conducted too privately and should have been done in public.
Environment critic Marlin Schmidt said Albertans know even less than before the review of the mining financial security program began.
“Given the amount of money involved and the importance of this sector to our economy, the fact that the public has been completely excluded from this process is truly concerning,” he said.
Alberta’s United Conservative Party government concluded consultations this month on how the industry financially supports its cleanup obligations.
He held a series of meetings throughout the year with industry and First Nations. there was no public hearing.
Estimates of the environmental liability of mines and their tailings ponds vary widely. Official figures put it at $34 billion, while an internal estimate from Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) staff put it at $130 billion.
The government currently holds no more than 4% of the security required for a cleanup. Even that level of public disclosure has now been obscured, Schmidt said.
He said that during the review of the scheme, the government has changed its rules on how businesses must ensure that their cleaning obligations can be met. Instead of relying on lines of credit or other forms of capital, the totals of which were made public, companies can now provide on-sight guarantees from insurance companies.
The number of companies using these guarantees and the size of the liability against which they insure are not disclosed, even on an aggregate basis.
“We need to have a simple accounting of how much money is available to cover liability,” Schmidt said. If government and industry don’t tell us how much of the liabilities these demand bonds cover, how will we know if the financial security program is working? »
Thomas Schneider, an associate professor of accounting at Metropolitan University of Toronto, explained that accepting insurance instead of requiring resources to be set aside allows producers to delay booking the billions of dollars the cleanup would then require. even as some mines are approaching the end of their life.
The review of the program was called after two critical reports from the Auditor General of Alberta. But First Nations consulted during the review said the government’s current direction retains most of the mistakes of the old program and makes new ones, including ignoring changes in the oil market to as countries transition to low-carbon economies.
An analysis of government direction by University of Alberta energy economist Andrew Leach, who has acted as a consultant to First Nations, concluded that the assumptions used in government modeling of the industry’s future “provide a false and dangerous sense of security”.
A spokesperson for the Department for the Environment and Protected Areas said the government expected to complete its review this year and start implementing changes, “where appropriate”, in 2024.
The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for an explanation of why the review excluded the public.
Mr. Schmidt said the process had to open up. Proprietary business information can remain confidential, he added.
“We’re generally good at what needs to be protected and what isn’t,” he said.
“Each mine, at some point, will have to end its operations. We need to have a plan to make sure there is enough money in the bank to cover these debts.
“We can’t make that mistake, especially given how big the bill is for taxpayers if we get it wrong. »
Note to readers: In a version of this story released Friday, The Canadian Press erroneously reported that no input from the public was solicited. In fact, there was no public hearing.