this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2024
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The tailings pile would have snow caps.
Or take up several valleys.
Or be kilometers in size and 30 m high
Or make me want to throw up.
You can reclaim TSFs, though. It is certainly not easy, but it is doable.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YpF-SE3AwEo
This rec is coming up on 15 years old, and is the top of the TSF. The sides of it date to the 90s or earlier, and look pretty good. Trees were about 20 ft or more tall on the sides the last time I was there. The top is shoulder height.
The primary issues related to the cost of placing a cover that is thick enough to entomb the tailings (assuming they have metal leaching potential) that plant roots won't compromise. The other problem is geotechnical stability issues if you use trees to revegetate, as their roots can go deeper or you get blow down that creates a hole in the reclamation cover, creating an erosion channel over time.
That's video made me want to throw up also. It's the unnatural hole in the ground, what was taken out, and where it is now.
Digging is fun. If I had more money, I might hire a fleet of trucks and dig a big hole just cause. Did it as a kid in the sandbox, why not as an adult? And, if you fill it back up nice and smooth it out, it's like it was never there. But if you take out all the carbon, and send it off to be burned, does it really matter an iota of fuck if they plant some trees after?
I mean I guess fixing the landscape is better than leaving a big hole in the ground. Should have just left it alone.
Oh I'm with you on the prevention side; especially with oil sands - it's a marginal product at best with huge env. Damage.
For reference, they don't backfill because it's stupid expensive and the operation wouldn't be profitable. You would also likely have major subsidence issues.