Canada battles toxic waste crisis as Alberta moves to pump oilsands tailings underground amid health and cost concerns

Alberta is proposing a solution to its mounting oilsands pollution. A panel of public and industry experts, led by Alberta MLA Tany Yao, recommends that companies inject toxic tailings like dirty water, sand, clay, and leftover bitumen deep underground rather than letting them pile up on the surface.

Canada’s booming oilsands industry has left behind massive lakes of toxic tailings for decades, now totalling over 1.4 trillion litres. These waste ponds have long leaked into ecosystems, threatening Indigenous communities and raising health alarms.

Despite past regulations, no company has ever fully cleaned one up, leaving billions in cleanup costs and few solutions.


Oilsands pollution is caused by the extraction and processing of bitumen, a form of crude oil found in sands. The oilsands in Alberta are Canada’s single-largest source of industrial waste by volume

The plan of pumping toxic oilsands is part of an expanding toolkit, a strategy that critics say comes late to a crisis decades in the making.

Canada’s tailings ponds, which cover some 270 km², reflect a broader issue: cleanup liability has ballooned to C$130 billion, yet companies have posted barely C$1.4 billion in reclamation security.

Also read: Thousands demand an independent Alberta

Health risks

Legions of studies and lived testimonies like those from Fort Chipewyan, where cancer rates are roughly double Alberta’s average, highlight the human cost.

Ottawa committed C$12 million in 2024 to a 10-year Indigenous-led health study to evaluate links between oilsands development and illnesses.

Simultaneously, Ottawa is reviewing naphthenic acids for classification as federally ‘toxic’ under CEPA, an assessment due by mid-2025, which could trigger stricter regulation of tailings.

Why underground?

The committee calls injection “practical,” emphasising it could ease the surface load while long-term fixes take shape. Deep beneath impermeable rock layers, the risk of leaking into rivers is minimized but not eliminated.

Environmental scientist Aliénor Rougeot of Environmental Defence praised the attention but urged caution: “I don’t know that we are at a stage where we could safely inject anything down there,” she told The Canadian Press.

Installation hurdles and costs

The report warns that large scale underground disposal will require new infrastructure like pipelines, wells, regulatory approvals, and consultation, making it long and expensive. It suggests regulated volume limits to ensure safety.

Oilsands tailings carry a toxic mix with around 75 per cent water, g25 per cent sand, plus residual bitumen, dissolved salts, heavy metals (like arsenic and chromium), naphthenic acids, phenols, PAHs, and trace hydrocarbons.

These compounds have tainted the Athabasca River in past spills and caused visible fish deformities and bird deaths. Suncor admitted leaking 1,600 m³ per day into the river in 2012.

A 2018 joint investigation estimated Alberta’s cleanup liability, mostly tailings, at C$130 billion, with only C$1.4 billion secured by companies.

The committee also urges sharing recycled wastewater among sites to cut freshwater usage and reduce tailings production. Alberta’s Water Management Framework already limits Athabasca River withdrawals to 1.3 percent of low flow levels, but critics say more is needed.

What’s next?

Now Alberta has six months to evaluate these five suggestions, including the underground injection plan, with a formal tailings management strategy due by late 2025. For oil workers, pipeline contractors, and Indigenous people, the decisions in the next half-year will define the region’s future.