Impacts of Western Coal, Oil Shale, and Tar Sands Development on Aquatic Environmental Quality: A Technical Information Matrix; Volume 1 Introduction and Instructions

Introduction: The Upper Colorado River Basin contains vast deposits of coal, oil shale, and tar sands, which could undergo extensive development should oil prices rise or an international situation restrict oil imports. Naturally, the prospect of development of these alternative fossil fuels resources has led to concern over how extraction and conversion activities will impact environmental quality. A thorough understanding of the nature and magnitude of the resulting envionemental impacts is a necessary prerequisite, if the costs and risks of such activites are to be weighed against the economic benefits. When we set out to evaluated these costs and risks, it soon became obvious that the voluminous literature in this area is difficult to access, often repetitive, and not well integrated into state-of-the-art reviews. This led us to realize the need to categorize and collate the results of such energy-related impact research in a way that would go beyond the compilation of a bibliography, or even keyworking relevant citations. The form of presentation that we eventually selected was the technical information matrix presented in this report. This matrix consists of information on the impacts of coal mining and conversion, oil shale mining and retoring, and tar sands development on four aspects of aquatic environmental quality: surface water and groundwater chemsitry, aquatic ecology, and aquifer modification. The report consists of three parts. This introductory volume contains instruction for use of the technical information matrix, a glossary, and sources of data on energy development and environmental impacts. Two additional looseleaf volumes contain the coal (II), and oil sahel and tar sands matrices (III), respectively, along with the corresponding matrix references and a bibliography of general (summary or overview) references. Each matrix volume also includes a list of symbols and abbreviations used in the matrix. Qualitatively, information on the three categories of fossil fuel development differs principally in amount, type, and geographical specificity. Coal extraction is a well-studied process in the East, where acid mine drainage and metal toxicity are well documented. In the West, surface mining of vast arid and semiarid tracts, as well as generally more alkaline mine drainage, has been less thoroughly studied. Nonetheless, commercial scale operations have been in place for a sufficiently long period, even in the West, to ahve produced a reasonably large data base. Coal conversion processes, although new, have also reached the commercial scale, and information is becoming relatively abundant. Conversely, environmental information is not generally availabel for the Scottish and Russian oil shale industries, or for the primitive industry in the Colorado Basin earlier in the century, and the present day oil shale industry in the west is insufficiently developed to have produced commerical scale case studies. Most information at present comes from pilot or semi-works facilities, and the impacts of a full-scale development over a 20-30 year project life are difficult to predict. Although Alberta, Canada, has a well developed tar sands industry, site specific information on tar sands development in the Colorado Basin is lacking. There are several areas of ommission in the coverage of sources of fossil fuel impact on aquatic environmental quality. Petroleum drilling, whose principal impacts in the Colorado Basin are related to interconnection of saline with good quality aquifers, creation of saline surface springs during exploration and illegal brine disposal practices has been omitted. Also, we have not pursued the effects of acid (e.g., Sox) base (e.g., NH3) or volatile metal (e.g., Hg) emissions to the atmosphere and their subsequent effects on downwind ecosystems when they are returned by precipitation or dry deposition. We have generally omitted the toxicological literature relating to occupational exposure (e.g., skin painting tests, etc.), as well as the impacts of water withdrawals on fish habitat through reduction of natural instream flows. In the latter cases such impacts require site specific consideration of hydrology and channel morphology. The more than 1300 citations in these matrices were gathered from a wide variety of refereed journals, symposium proceedings, government documents, abstracting services, and personal communications with researchers. The papers cited emphasize the period 1970-1981. Greatest emphasis was placed on the more recent literature, but late 1981 papers are probably underrepresented. There is also little doubt that we have failed to include some valuable material found in project reports, oral presentations, masters these, disserations, and similar sources. Certainly some citations were not optimally summarized or categorized, particularly when it was necessary to work from an abstract or summary. Hopefully, such exclusions or poor representations will not result in loss of excessive information or unduly mislead the users. We plan to update the matrix periodically, supplementing new information found with the searching techniques developed thus far and especially with information supplied by users. Updates will be in the form of looseleaf pages to be added to or substituted in Volumes I and II, and will be published as frequently as deemed necessary to cover developments in the subject areas. We would very much appreciate receiving copies (or summaries) of pertinent reports from the users of this matrix, together with corrections or improvements in the content or categorization of material presently in the matrix. There should be sent to: F.J. Post (coal) or Jay Messer (oil shale and tar sands) Utah Water Research Laboratory UMC 82 Utah State University Logan, UT 84322 They will be gratefully included in the next update

Petroleum hydrocarbon content, leaching and degradation from surficial bitumens in the Athabasca oil sands region

Mine reclamation has become a topic of considerable research in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Northeastern Alberta, Canada. In this area some of the largest open pit mines in the world extract bitumen, a type of heavy oil, from the oil bearing McMurray Formation. At the close of mine operations, lease holders are required to return the land to equivalent capability. To achieve this, several existing waste piles will need to be capped and a functioning ecosystem re-established. Proposed borrow pits for capping material were recently found to contain reworked bitumen materials of various shapes and sizes. This reworked bitumen has been named tarballs by local industry. The use of that name is maintained throughout this study. The tarball accumulations are very abundant in some areas but also occur infrequently in apparently clean areas. In this study, the petroleum hydrocarbon signature and leaching characteristics of the tarballs were determined. The hydrocarbon content and composition of the tarballs were assessed using the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) methods. The data were presented in terms of the four CCME fractions. Leaching characteristics were determined using a custom designed, unsaturated soil column experiment carried out at the University of Saskatchewan. The soil column was monitored for petroleum hydrocarbons, total carbon and total organic carbon in leachate water and soil respiration as a surrogate for biodegradation. The bitumen was found to consist primarily of heavy hydrocarbons, CCME Fractions 3 and 4, at levels of thousands and tens of thousands of mg/kg respectively. Gravimetric analyses indicated that a significant proportion of the tarball materials are very heavy hydrocarbons beyond the range of high temperature gas chromatography. These very heavy hydrocarbons are greater than carbon number C90. Lighter and more mobile hydrocarbons were occasionally identified at the core of larger accumulations. Where identified, the lighter fractions were typically accompanied by F3 and F4 hydrocarbons at one to two orders of magnitude greater than typical tarball material. Leachate was found to contain F2 hydrocarbons at less than 0.2 mg/L, a small fraction of the CCME clean water guideline of 1.1 mg/L. F3 hydrocarbons were identified at levels up to 0.6 mg/L. Soil respiration indicated a very low activity system, suggesting limited potential for biodegradation. Tarball materials are concluded to be of little concern for potential impacts to groundwater based upon the hydrocarbon fingerprint and the observed leaching characteristics of the tarball materials

Fact or Fiction: Oil Sands Reclamation

Surface mining for oil sands is radically transforming the Athabasca Boreal region of northeastern Alberta. The feverish expansion in oil sands development is based on the untested assumption that mined landscapes can be recovered to something close to the pre-development ecosystem after mining is complete. Reclamation is the final step mining companies are required to complete before mine closure. Defined in Alberta as the “stabilization, contouring, maintenance, conditioning or reconstruction of the surface of land,” reclamation is an essential component of responsible oil sands development. However, an assessment of the current policies and practices governing oil sands mine reclamation reveals an alarming range of challenges, uncertainties and risks that deserve immediate attention and broader public discussion. This report explores these issues to help demonstrate what is fact and what is fiction about oil sands mine reclamation

A survey of the bacterial root endophytes associated with the natural vegetation at the Bitumount Provincial Historic site, Alberta, Canada.

The Bitumount Provincial Historic site is the location of two of the world’s first oil extracting and refining operations. Bitumount, located in the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta, is thought to be impacted by hydrocarbons through both natural and human activity. Plants have been able to recolonize the site in spite of varying hydrocarbon levels, through means of natural revegetation. Due to the apparent resilience of these plant species, Bitumount offers a unique opportunity to study the root-associated bacterial communities. This study was designed to achieve a better understanding of the root-associated partnerships occurring within naturally revegetated hydrocarbon contaminated soils. Plant and soil samples were collected in June 2014. Six representative plant species were identified and collected based on abundance on site, including smooth brome (Bromus inermis, SB), horsetail species (Equisetum spp., HT), slender wheatgrass (Agropyron trachycaulum, SW), Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis, KB), an unspecified member of the pea family (Fabaceae, PF), and wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana, WS). Population abundance of rhizosphere and root endosphere bacteria was significantly influenced (p<0.05) by plant species and sampling location. The vegetation was found to support diverse root endophytic communities despite hydrocarbon contamination. Culture dependent techniques were able to identify some of the more abundant bacteria characterized by high-throughput sequencing. In general, members of the Actinomycetales, Rhizobiales, Pseudomonadales, Burkholderiales, and Sphingomonadales orders were the most commonly identified via both techniques. Community structure of root-associated bacteria was found to be influenced by both plant species and sampling location. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the potential functional diversity of the root endophytic bacteria. The gene copy numbers of 16S rRNA and two hydrocarbon degrading genes (CYP153 and alkB; both of the alkane hydroxylase family) were quantified. The gene copy abundance of 16S rRNA, CYP153, and alkB was significantly affected by the interaction of plant species and sampling location. The increased colonization of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria within grass species emphasizes their ability to be used for reclamation efforts. Overall, it was found that the endosphere was able to support diverse bacterial communities with known plant growth promoting abilities. In addition, the diversity and abundance of the endophytic bacteria was influenced by many different factors instead of one sole dominant one. The findings of this study provide insight into the root-associated bacterial communities occurring within natural revegetated soils

Evaluation of metals release from oil sands coke : an ecotoxicological assessment of risk and hazard to aquatic invertebrates

The oil sands operations in northeast Alberta, Canada, employ unconventional processes to produce synthetic crude oil (SCO). Because the extracted bitumen, ¡®the form of oil in oil sands¡¯, is highly viscous, it requires thermal upgrading to produce SCO. Coking technology is used to convert heavy bitumen fractions to lighter volatile fractions. During this process, an enormous volume of solid coke is produced and the metal impurities (e.g. Al, Fe, Mn, Ni, Ti and V) present in bitumen fractions end-up in the coke particles. As coke demands significant space for storage, oil sands companies are exploring options for placing coke into reclamation landscapes for long term storage and recovery. However, coke holds appreciable amounts of potentially leachable metals that may impede the performance of reclamation landscapes. Although two previous coke leaching studies had showed that coke released metals into water at concentrations exceeding the Canadian guidelines for the protection of aquatic life, the ecotoxicological hazard and risk of these metals were not well characterized. Therefore, the overall goal of this research was to characterize the fate and toxicity of metals associated with coke. In this research, the toxicity of coke leachates collected from oil sands field sites and those artificially generated in the laboratory were evaluated using a standard three-brood Ceriodaphnia dubia tests. Coke leachates (CLs) collected over a period of 20 months from two field lysimeters were found to be acutely toxic to C. dubia. Vanadium concentrations were significantly higher (p¡Ü0.05) than concentrations of all other metals in CLs from both lysimeters, and also in leachates from a laboratory batch renewal leaching study. Furthermore, toxic unit (TU) calculations suggested that Ni and V were likely the cause of CL toxicity, but this was not explicitly proven. Therefore, a chronic toxicity identification and evaluation (TIE) approach was adopted to identify and confirm the cause(s) of CL toxicity. Coke was subjected to a 15 day batch leaching process in the laboratory at pH 5.5 and 9.5 in order to characterize the effect of pH on metals release from coke, and to generate CLs for use in TIE tests. The 7-day LC50 estimates for C. dubia survival were 6.3% and 28.7% (v/v) for CLs generated at pH 5.5 and 9.5, respectively. The dissolved concentrations of Mn, Ni and Zn were high (p¡Ü0.05) in pH 5.5 CL, whereas Al, Mo and V were high (p¡Ü0.05) in pH 9.5 CL. Evidence gathered from a series of chronic TIE tests revealed that Ni and V were the cause of toxicity in pH 5.5 CL, whereas V was the primary cause of toxicity in pH 9.5 CL. Further, the influence of bicarbonate, chloride and sulfate ions on metals release, speciation and Ni and V toxicity was investigated. The type and amount of metals released from coke was significantly influenced by the ion type elevated in the leaching solution. Specifically, sulfate influenced mobilization of Ni, Fe, Mn and Zn from coke, whereas bicarbonate enhanced Al, Mo and V releases from coke. With respect to toxicity, increasing bicarbonate decreased the 7-day Ni2+ IC50 from 6.3 to 2.3 ¦Ìg Ni2+/L suggesting enhanced Ni toxicity at high pH or alkalinity. Conversely, sulfate showed a protective effect against V toxicity to C. dubia. The research presented in this thesis suggests that coke will not be inert when stored in reclamation landscapes and that metals, particularly Ni and V, could reach ecotoxicologically relevant levels in surface waters or substrate porewaters, under favourable leaching conditions. Operationally, efforts should focus on remediation and monitoring of metals released from coke, particularly Ni and V, in impacted wetlands, especially before discharging water into natural wetlands and/or local streams and rivers

Controls on Mass and Thermal Loading to an Oil Sands End Pit Lake from Underlying Fluid Fine Tailings

End pit lakes (EPLs) are a relatively new strategy proposed for reclaiming oil sands surface mines. An EPL is formed within a depleted mine pit, with fluid fine tailings (FFT) stored below a water cover. Fluid fine tailings are a by-product of the oil sands bitumen extraction process with high water contents, low bearing capacities, and elevated concentrations of various constituents. This thesis considers mass and heat transfer between the FFT and overlying water cover at the first EPL, Base Mine Lake (BML). The study objectives were: (1) characterize the FFT thermal properties and the thermal regime in BML; (2) assess FFT settlement rates and characteristics; and (3) evaluate a range of potential mechanisms for mass and heat movement, including diffusion or conduction, and mixing of the FFT due to unstable density profiles or fluid movement within the water cover. These objectives were achieved through a combination of field investigations, laboratory testing, and numerical modelling, and the results were published in three manuscripts comprising the main body of the thesis. Overall, FFT is the largest (Cl) mass source to the BML water cover. The dominant transport mechanism was advective mass transport or convective heat transport due to tailings settlement; however, tailings disturbance near the FFT-water interface may also contribute to mass release. The predicted pore water fluxes based on the advective or convective regimes were similar to previously estimated FFT settlement rates and decreased throughout the studied period from approximately 1.46 m/a in 2013 to 2014, to 0.73 m/a in 2014 to 2015. Declining advection rates indicate that diffusive mass transport and conductive heat transfer will likely become more significant in the future. The results also confirmed that EPL design should consider the size of the water cover, volume and characteristics of the FFT, and operational controls, as these factors will likely influence EPL success as a sustainable reclamation landscape

A methodology for the environmental assessment of advanced coal extraction systems

Procedures developed to identify and assess potential environment impacts of advanced mining technology as it moves from a generic concept to a more systems definition are described. Two levels of assessment are defined in terms of the design stage of the technology being evaluated. The first level of analysis is appropriate to a conceptual design. At this level it is assumed that each mining process has known and potential environmental impacts that are generic to each mining activity. By using this assumption, potential environmental impacts can be identified for new mining systems. When two or more systems have been assessed, they can be evaluated comparing potential environmental impacts. At the preliminary stage of design, a systems performance can be assessed again with more precision. At this level of systems definition, potential environmental impacts can be analyzed and their significane determined in a manner to facilitate comparisons between systems. At each level of analysis, suggestions calculated to help the designer mitigate potentially harmful impacts are provided

Controls on Mass and Thermal Loading to an Oil Sands End Pit Lake from Underlying Fluid Fine Tailings

End pit lakes (EPLs) are a relatively new strategy proposed for reclaiming oil sands surface mines. An EPL is formed within a depleted mine pit, with fluid fine tailings (FFT) stored below a water cover. Fluid fine tailings are a by-product of the oil sands bitumen extraction process with high water contents, low bearing capacities, and elevated concentrations of various constituents. This thesis considers mass and heat transfer between the FFT and overlying water cover at the first EPL, Base Mine Lake (BML). The study objectives were: (1) characterize the FFT thermal properties and the thermal regime in BML; (2) assess FFT settlement rates and characteristics; and (3) evaluate a range of potential mechanisms for mass and heat movement, including diffusion or conduction, and mixing of the FFT due to unstable density profiles or fluid movement within the water cover. These objectives were achieved through a combination of field investigations, laboratory testing, and numerical modelling, and the results were published in three manuscripts comprising the main body of the thesis. Overall, FFT is the largest (Cl) mass source to the BML water cover. The dominant transport mechanism was advective mass transport or convective heat transport due to tailings settlement; however, tailings disturbance near the FFT-water interface may also contribute to mass release. The predicted pore water fluxes based on the advective or convective regimes were similar to previously estimated FFT settlement rates and decreased throughout the studied period from approximately 1.46 m/a in 2013 to 2014, to 0.73 m/a in 2014 to 2015. Declining advection rates indicate that diffusive mass transport and conductive heat transfer will likely become more significant in the future. The results also confirmed that EPL design should consider the size of the water cover, volume and characteristics of the FFT, and operational controls, as these factors will likely influence EPL success as a sustainable reclamation landscape

Degradation and aquatic toxicity of oil sands naphthenic acids using simulated wetlands

Oil sands process-affected waters (OSPW) from the Athabasca oil sands (AOS) located in northern Alberta, Canada, are toxic to aquatic organisms due to the presence of organic and inorganic constituents. Much of this toxicity is related to a group of dissolved organic acids known as naphthenic acids (NAs). Naphthenic acids are a natural component of bitumen and are released into process water during the caustic hot water extraction process used to separate the bitumen from the oil sand ore. This complex mixture of non-cyclic and mono- and poly-cyclic alkanes containing carboxyl groups are characterized by the general formula CnH2n+zO2, where n indicates the carbon number, and Z represents the number of fused rings in the structure. Currently, all process-affected waters are stored within large holding ponds and settling basins on the oil sands mining lease sites with the understanding that eventual reclamation of this water must be undertaken. Successful reclamation of OSPW is expected to require a reduction in total NAs concentrations in the OSPW and the removal of the toxic character of the water. Natural or enhanced bioremediation in lakes and wetlands within the lease closure landscapes will play a critical role in meeting these two requirements. This research investigated the potential for the reduction of total NAs concentrations in OSPW due to biotic (e.g., biodegradation) and abiotic (e.g., sorption) processes, and its relationship to the overall toxicity of OSPW. The specific goals of this research were to determine if natural degradation of NAs in simulated wetland environments could be enhanced by manipulating various physical and chemical factors of the environment, to describe and quantify the selective biodegradation rates of NAs congeners, and to correlate observed changes in total NAs concentration and composition with changes in the aquatic toxicity of OSPW. The complexity of both OSPW and NAs mixtures presented an unusual set of challenges. A preliminary investigation was used to determine the contributions of salinity and NAs to the total aquatic toxicity of OSPW in order to identify a suitable test organism that would respond to NAs concentrations while tolerating the high ionic content of OSPW for the main simulated wetland microcosm study. Seven-day Ceriodaphnia dubia chronic toxicity tests, using both un-manipulated (containing NAs) and manipulated (substantially reduced NAs) samples of OSPW, identified salinity as a potential contributing factor to the overall toxicity of this complex water. Only a 5% reduction in acute toxicity and an 11% reduction in chronic toxicity was observed with a 91% reduction in total NAs concentration (from 67.2 to 5.9 mg/L; removed by solvent extraction). However, when the same samples were tested using the salt tolerant bacteria Vibrio fischeri in the Microtox® bioassay system, the 91% reduction in total NAs concentration, the toxicity was removed (EC50 changed from 57.8 to >100%). These results suggested that salts in OSPW may drive the toxicity of OSPW to some freshwater invertebrates, such as C. dubia, and that the Microtox® bioassay was better suited to track the overall toxic potential of NAs in OSPW. Using flow-through, laboratory microcosms to mimic natural wetlands, it was demonstrated that the reduction in total NAs concentration, based on the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis, was dependent upon hydraulic retention time (HRT), but appeared to be unaffected by nutrient addition (nitrogen and phosphorus). Microcosms with a longer HRT (for two OSPW types; Syncrude and Suncor) showed higher reductions in total NAs concentrations (64¬ to 74% NAs reduction) after the 52-week test period, while nutrient enrichment appeared to have little effect. While the total NAs concentrations decreased in the waters from the microcosms, a 96-hr static acute rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) bioassay showed that the initial acute toxicity of Syncrude OSPW (LC50 = 67% v/v) was reduced (LC50 >100% v/v) independent of HRT. However, EC20s from the Microtox® bioassays were relatively unchanged when comparing the input and output microcosm waters maintained at both HRTs over the 52-week study period, indicating that some sub-lethal toxicity persisted under these experimental conditions. The study demonstrated that given sufficiently long HRTs, simulated wetland microcosms containing OSPW significantly reduced total NAs concentrations and acute toxicity, but left behind a persistent component of the NAs mixture associated with residual toxicity. Further investigations aimed to describe and quantify the selective biodegradation of NAs congeners and correlate the observed changes in total NAs concentration and composition (i.e., NAs fingerprint profile) with the aquatic toxicity of OSPW. High performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time of flight-mass spectrometry (HPLC/QTOF-MS) analysis was used to track the changes in NAs mixture profiles or ‘fingerprints’ in each experimental treatment over time. Based on first-order degradation kinetics, rapid degradation was observed for NAs that had lower carbon numbers (11 to 16) and fewer degrees of cyclization (Z series -2 to -4; half-lives between 19 to 28 weeks). Within the NAs mixture fingerprint, the two most persistent groups of NAs homologues were identified (NAs with carbon numbers 17 to 20 and Z series -6 to -12; half-lives between 37 to 52 weeks). Their persistence may have resulted in the residual chronic toxicological response as measured by the Microtox® bioassay (EC20). An additional study was conducted to characterize potential changes in the total concentration and composition of NAs in OSPW due to sorption to organic wetland sediments. The batch-reactor investigation showed a rapid (<1 day) and significant reduction in total NAs concentrations in OSPW when mixed with the wetland sediment at a ratio of 2:1 v/v (OSPW:sediment). The mean percent reduction of NAs in OSPW was 67% during the 14-day test period, suggesting a significant influence of sorption on the removal of NAs than previously expected. However, no preferential sorption was observed based on the distribution of NAs congeners with respect to carbon number, Z series, and arbitrarily defined clusters. The potential sorption of OSPW NAs as a result of using substrates with high organic carbon content (e.g., 27.6% total organic carbon content) in designed wetlands may enhance the mitigative capabilities of these reclamation landscapes at the AOS. Further investigations into understanding NAs sorption kinetics without substrate agitation are warranted before these results can be extrapolated to the field. Finally, to test the hypothesis that persistent components of an OSPW NAs mixture (e.g., NAs congeners with higher carbon numbers and degrees of cyclization) may be responsible for the observed residual chronic toxicity identified in the previous simulated wetland microcosm study, the fractionation of OSPW NAs was attempted using both off-line anion exchange chromatography and batch-wise co-polymer filtration and elution. Although complete separation was not achieved in this investigation, the results suggested that specific variations of the co-polymer were most effective and showed the most promise for separating the NAs mixtures based on polarity and size. With further refinements to the procedure, future investigations may be able to achieve adequate separation of the NAs mixture into fractions with compositions different enough to conduct toxicity bioassays