Ridiculously small’ fine sends wrong message to industry: Indigenous leaders – Canada’s National Observer
August 26th 2024
The Alberta Energy Regulator’s decision to issue a “ridiculously small” $50,000 fine to Imperial Oil in connection with major tailings leaks in 2023 sends a clear message to fossil fuel companies according to a local First Nation’s chief: “come here and dump all of your toxic waste in our drinking water.”
“The [AER] could have given them a stiffer fine, maybe $5 million to $10 million, to send a message to all of industry that they will not tolerate this. But they didn’t do anything,” Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview on Friday.
Imperial Oil made roughly $20 billion in profit over 2022 and 2023 combined, and reported $1.13 billion in profit in the second quarter of 2024.
