Varcoe: Imperial Oil’s CEO is grilled for two hours over Kearl leak

Article content material

It did not take lengthy for tensions to rise on Thursday after Imperial Oil CEO Brad Corson appeared earlier than a parliamentary committee holding hearings right into a leak on the Kearl oilsands mine.

Article content material

The primary such second occurred simply minutes in, after Corson delivered a floor acknowledgment initially of his testimony to the surroundings and sustainable improvement committee.

Article content material

Even earlier than the primary query was requested, Fort McMurray-Cole Lake MP Laila Goodridge identified that Imperial had not carried out so at a public assembly in Fort Chipewyan final month.

“It is created much more frustration in my neighborhood, in the entire area,” stated the Conservative MP, whose driving covers the oil sands area of northern Alberta.

“I sincerely hope that you’ve got realized a lesson, that to go up for a one-hour city corridor and never begin with a land recognition, and never begin with a prayer, just isn’t how we do issues in northeastern Alberta don’t.”

It did not get any simpler over the following two hours.

Goodridge quickly raised considerations about consuming water security brought on by two separate releases of business wastewater on the Kearl mine, operated by Imperial Oil – and the corporate’s lack of communication with native communities after the primary incident in Could 2022 .

“There (have been) weeks the place there was only a vacuum of knowledge,” she stated.

“The concern was actual, it was palpable.”

Throughout the assembly, MPs from all events took goal on the two releases of waste water on the Kearl mine, together with the preliminary seepage observed final Could, and why close by indigenous communities weren’t adequately notified in regards to the difficulty for months.

Article content material

Article content material

“I simply have one query: How do you sleep at evening?” stated Inexperienced Occasion chief Elizabeth Could in a single rhetorical flourish.

And so it went on Parliament Hill.

“As anticipated, it was a massacre,” stated Michael Solberg, a companion at New West Public Affairs, which gives authorities relations and strategic communications consulting, and watched the listening to on-line.

“I feel only a few have been put to mattress right here, besides that we all know they’re sorry.”

This was a key message from the corporate, one it repeated a number of instances.

Eventually month’s assembly, Corson apologized for the shortage of land recognition, and for the corporate’s errors in not correctly speaking with indigenous communities within the area.

“This communication breakdown has led to a major quantity of misinformation, which has contributed to concern, confusion and anger in these communities. I’m very sorry that this occurred.”

It was a begin.

However that won’t quell the anger swirling round these points.

“After listening to heartbreaking testimony from neighborhood leaders on Monday and imprecise guarantees from Imperial officers on Thursday, we are not any nearer to the reality,” Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) Chief Allan Adam stated in a press release on Friday.

Whereas there weren’t many new revelations in regards to the two incidents, it was the primary time Imperial Oil’s chief govt had publicly answered questions in regards to the matter, except for feedback made at Imperial’s investor day this week.

Article content material

The primary incident at Kearl was found final spring, after Imperial officers discovered discolored industrial wastewater – containing arsenic, hydrocarbons and dissolved iron – seeping from the exterior tailings space on the mine.

It notified the province’s power regulator and several other native communities. But it didn’t replace them on the matter, nor did it contact neighborhood leaders.

In a separate incident, about 5.3 million gallons of wastewater overflowed from a drainage pond on the mine in late January, which Corson stated was brought on by a mixture of apparatus issues and course of errors.

On February 6, the Alberta Power Regulator issued an environmental safety order within the spillway. This prompted the ACFN to advise its members to not eat any meat or vegetation harvested downstream from the oil sands web site.

Imperial stated its monitoring exhibits that launched fluids don’t have an effect on consuming water or wildlife.

Whereas the oil sands operator initially notified communities in regards to the discolored water, it didn’t need to return to them till we totally understood the scenario and had a ultimate plan, Corson stated.

It was a blunder, to say the least.

It additionally makes one marvel precisely when that second would have arrived.

“We completely ought to have picked up the cellphone and talked on to the chiefs and the management,” Corson stated.

Tougher questions adopted.

NDP MP Heather McPherson identified that firm officers met with an environmental committee involving ACFN thrice final summer season and fall, but “the poisonous seepage was by no means addressed . . . You’ve got the arrogance you might have with that communities have damaged, so you’ll forgive all of us on this room for treating your whole testimony with a substantial amount of scepticism,” stated the MP for Edmonton Strathcona.

Article content material

“You clearly tried to cover info from the indigenous communities, is not that true?”

Not so, replied Corson.

“We’ve got by no means tried to cover any info. We have been remiss in not proactively sharing info that we had,” he stated.

“I am unable to change what occurred up to now. It was unsuitable and I’m very sorry for that. I’m not pleased with it. However I can change what we do going ahead.”

Solberg believes the corporate needed to come ahead to face robust questions from MPs – and apologize – however that won’t finish the scrutiny the corporate faces.

And it’ll proceed to return from all sides of the political aisles.

“There may be cross-party opposition to what occurred to Kearl,” he stated.

“The story just isn’t over but.”

Chris Varcoe is a Calgary Herald columnist.

cvarcoe@postmedia.com