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ENVIRONMENT: Alberta’s first ‘reclaimed’ oilsands land now a forested area
        (AlbertaIndex, March 21, Friday)--- A 104-hectare parcel of land 35km north of Fort McMurray has been restored to a rolling forested area with hiking trails, making it the first in Alberta to be remediated after years of oilsands operations.
        Alberta Environment this week said the provincial government issued a reclamation certificate to Syncrude Canada Ltd more than 25 years after it started remediation work on the Gateway Hill land.

The site was used for placement of overburden material removed during oil sands mining. By the early 1980s, the area was no longer needed and Syncrude began to replace topsoil and plant trees and shrubs.

Under Alberta’s reclamation standards, companies must remediate and reclaim provincial land to make it productive again. Alberta requires reclaimed land to be able to support a range of activities similar to its previous use.

“To confirm the success of reclamation takes time. Both operators and government want to ensure that the reclamation is successful before a certificate is granted,” said Environment Minister Rob Renner.

“This is an important first step in restoring land to its more natural state. We are continually learning more about the science of land reclamation, and we will apply that learning to ensure we have continuous improvement,” said Sustainable Resource Development Minister Ted Morton.

Typically, oil sands mining requires the use of land for several decades. The reclamation process occurs throughout the life of the project, and the final reclamation certification occurs when the land is no longer in use and has been fully reclaimed.


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