So the ERCB is going to do something, gosh darn it, about those pesky tailings ponds.They are going to ask, no... insist, nay... demand that the tar sands companies come up with a plan for reclaiming the tailings ponds with some specific timelines.  And gosh darn it, they will be required to adhere to those timelines, whatever they may be.Yes, sure, the tailings ponds are technically an essential part of the way that bitumen is removed from tar sands.  Yes, sure, as long as they continue strip-mining tar sands, they are going to need tailings ponds or some other long-term storage of massive quantities of liquid waste.  So yeah, the timeline will probably say something to the effect of "look, we'll clean it up when we're done here.  Which will be in about 30 years."And yes, no one has ever actually reclaimed an oil sands tailings pond.  The oil sands companies themselves say that they are still working on the technology to make that possible.  So whatever plan they would give us would be, at best, an optimistic guess.And yes, there is a real possibility that once the sand is all gone, the companies will simply cease to exist, so there will be no one to force to actually implement these reclamation plans.Sure, sure, we make them pay "deposits" on their costs of reclamation.  But their costs are "negotiated" between the company and the government.  And they are not available for public scrutiny.Oh, and the amount of money we're collecting per hectare in security deposits wouldn't clean up a gravel pit of equivalent size, much less a toxic "pond".Oh, and these "ponds?"  All told, we're talking about an area about the same size as the City of Edmonton.  I think, maybe, we can go with "lakes."OK, so we've got massive lakes of toxic sludge, no proven technology for reclaiming them, no way to operate without them, operations that are going to continue for decades, companies that will probably cease to exist when these plans actually require them to do something, and security deposits that are woefully inadequate.But hey... at least we've managed to sock away hundreds of billions of dollars in royalties to help deal with the inevitable day that the sands run dry... wait... we haven't?Aw, fuck.Cynic mode, disengaged.