Alberta announces committee to help speed up oilsands tailings reclamation

EDMONTON — The Alberta government is appointing a new committee to look into ways to speed up reclamation of tailings ponds in the province’s oilsands. 

The province says in a release that the committee will examine potential policies and options that would allow reclamation to happen as quickly and safely as possible.

The six-member committee includes a United Conservative Party legislature member, an oilsands executive, an engineering professor, a former Conservative cabinet minister, a former regulator and the chief of Fort McKay First Nation. 

The committee is to be supported by a facilitator from outside the government.