
Alberta to explore injecting oil sands tailings underground as one management option
The Alberta government says it is considering letting oil companies inject wastewater deep underground as a way to manage the toxic tailings that are accumulating in the oil sands.
The idea is one of five being put forward by a government-appointed committee tasked with studying potential tailings management options.
A new report from the committee says injecting mine water underground is a practical solution but considering over 1.4 trillion litres of tailings exist as of 2023 it can’t be the only option.
The committee says tailings could be disposed of underneath many layers of impermeable rock so as not to ruin sources of drinking water.