Reclamation could cost taxpayers $15 billion
The Alberta government and oilsands industry have long maintained that land disturbed by open-pit mining can and will be reclaimed to a more natural setting.
But an environmental group says the costs will far exceed what the government and industry are socking away to clean up the mess. And that could leave taxpayers footing the billion-dollar bill.
“You need to make sure that the liabilities that you’re reporting are actually the liabilities that are occurring on the ground” says Nathan Lemphers a Pembina Institute policy analyst. “Right now that isn’t the case.”
As of 2009 the province’s Environmental Protection Security Fund had $820 million stashed away to reclaim more than 68574 hectares of disturbed land.
However using government and industry figures Pembina pegs the cost closer to $15 billion — about $6300 per Albertan.
With 10000 mines abandoned or not reclaimed across the country Albertans should be concerned about getting stuck with the bill says Lemphers.
“There’s a significant discrepancy in what industry is doing and what the government is protecting Albertans from” he says.
