Groundwater Contamination near Calling Lake
Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Albertans expect this government to protect water, our most important natural resource. An environmental protection order was issued against a chemical company yesterday, and it raises a number of questions about water protection systems in Alberta. My questions are to the Minister of Environment. Groundwater monitoring at Ward Chemical’s brine facility showed high chlorine levels in 2006 which exceeded both the provincial and the federal guidelines. Why did it take the government three years to issue an environmental protection order?
Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, there are a number of tools that are available to our compliance officials in Environment. Like any kind of a regulator role or a policeman role, it’s important that you work with the offender and try to resolve an issue as amicably as possible. If in some cases it’s an ignorance of the law, then sometimes it’s as simple as advising someone what it is. In this particular case we’ve worked with this company on an ongoing basis, and we found that it’s necessary to issue a compliance order.
Ms Blakeman: Well, there’s always someone downstream.
To the same minister: given that potential sources of contamination include the brine storage pond and surface runoff from the facility, does the minister accept that other industrial sites likely have these same contamination issues and that self-monitoring from industry is not working?
Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, let’s be clear: this is about dealing with the site that is contained within the bounds of the facility. If there was any reason to believe that the actions of the business were contaminating adjacent land, then we would be acting much more aggressively. In this particular instance I am assured by my officials that we’re dealing with a contamination that is confined solely to the land that is operated by the industry. The efforts that are put in place now are to get them to clean up their own act.
Ms Blakeman: Well, Mr. Minister, groundwater doesn’t stay in one place, so if these people, this company has contaminated groundwater in one place, it is going to be moving somewhere else. Given this contamination of groundwater that is near Calling Lake from Ward Chemical, does the minister accept that if it can happen at a brine facility, it can happen in a tailings pond? So far today we’ve talked about sewage, we’ve talked about oil and gas leeching, and we’ve talked about brine contamination. Someone is always downstream, Mr. Minister.
Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that in this particular instance we’re not talking about groundwater; we’re talking about surface contamination. We’re talking about soil contamination. There are plumes associated with soil contamination. They’re highly predictable; nevertheless, it’s important that we deal with them. So in this particular instance we have put in place compliance orders that will require the industry to do what they have been politely asked to do in the past. Now we’re not being nearly so polite.
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