50 YEARS - of Sprawling Tailings - Mapping decades of destruction by oil sands tailings

8 Mapping Out Decades of Toxic Takeover Introduction: What are ‘tailings’? Tailings “ponds” are immense open-air reservoirs designed to allow solids to settle to Tailings are the waste of the oil sands the bottom of the ponds and separate from extraction process - a byproduct of separating the water over long periods of time. [...] The use of the term “ponds” is a deliberate attempt to misrepresent the size of the tailings and create the false idea that they are much smaller in scale. [...] The legacy of ignoring or underinvesting in the study of the impacts of the oil sands continues today. [...] The idea is that the fine tailings will condense and settle to the bottom of the mine and create the lake bottom. [...] Thank you to Garth Lenz for the photos of oil sands tailings and the area, all of which help tell the story of the deep impacts of the oil sands region.