April 27, 2020

For Immediate Release

Fort McMurray - Keepers of the Water, an Indigenous led water advocacy group, is extremely concerned about the impacts of the current Athabasca River flood. Many photos and videos posted on social media indicate that water levels are continuing to rise which has given rise to our concern, especially in regards to the impacts the flooding may have on several tar sands tailings ponds and holding ponds, many of which sit right alongside the rising river, and as such demand more information on the Athabasca River flood and its effects.

“As a downstream community from the Tar sands, we deal with everything that goes into the river and would feel the direct impacts of a tailing breach. We want to know what the emergency response plans are, what the current state of the various tailings ponds in relation to the rising rivers is, and to see what the current impacts of the floods are,” states Sam Gargan, Keepers of the Water Chair.

A case in point is the 2013 Obed Mountain Coal mine spill of 1 billion litres of tailings into the Athabasca river. The slurry of toxic sludge has deadly impacts on fish and left many community members searching for answers. s stated by Sam Gargan, “We’ve seen that major breaches can occur especially when combined with weather events. We know that the impacts can be severe. It should not be too much to ask for communities to get answers and information, so we’re not left wondering or forced to deal with another breach in our waters. It’s really the least the government should be doing.”

Additionally, the Alberta Government recently announced that Environmental reporting is temporarily suspended due to COVID-19. Tis compounds the issues and problems faced in this region as a result of the Athabasca River flooding at the current time.

“In the middle of pandemic, people need access to clean and healthy drinking water to ensure they have healthy immune systems, with almost no environmental reporting required now, how do we know what is even happening in the tar sands and with the water?” states Jesse Cardinal, Interim Executive Director for Keepers of the Water.

The Time is now for actions and answers.

-30-

For more information, contact Jesse Cardinal, 780-520-7108