RRTAC Reports
The Reclamation Research Technical Advisory Committee (RRTAC) was established in 1978 to manage the Alberta Government’s reclamation research program, funded through the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund’s Land Reclamation Program. The research program focused initially on plains coal mining, then expanded to include mountain and foothills coal mining, oil sands mining and oil and gas. The program ran from 1978 to 1994 and produced numerous research reports.
OSRIN has digitized 37 of the RRTAC reports including:
· all of the reports prepared under RRTAC’s Oil Sands Reclamation Research Program;
· a number of reports of general interest (e.g., salinity, topsoil storage, plant suitability); and
· reports from the other research program areas that address oil sands issues (Plains Coal – salinity, groundwater, soil characterization; Mountains and Foothills – wildlife habitat, tree growth, erosion).
TAKE NOTE: These reports are provided to give context and historical information. As they are old they may contain references to out-of-date legislation and policies. Readers should be cautious when using these materials and always refer to current legislation and policies.
Items in this Collection
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2014-12-05
Oil Sands Research and Information Network
As part of its mandate to enhance access to oil sands information the Oil Sands Research and Information Network (OSRIN) digitized the oil-sands relevant Reclamation Research Technical Advisory Committee (RRTAC) series of research reports. Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development...
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A Summary of Land Resource and Groundwater Resource Issues Related to Plains Coal Mine Reclamation in Alberta
Download1996
Trudell, M., Moran, S. R., Cheel, D., Macyk, T., Thacker, D.
Development and extraction of coal resources in Alberta disrupts the landscape and alters two other important resources, land and groundwater. In order to support coal resource development that was economically and environmentally responsible, the Reclamation Research Technical Advisory Committee...
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1994
In the summer of 1990, research plots were designed and constructed on the Syncrude Canada Ltd., mine site at Mildred lake to test the effect of thickness and quality of replaced soil over tailings sand on the performance of trees and shrubs. Treatments included three cap thicknesses (70, 50 and...
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1994
This report outlines a conceptual and analytical framework for quantifying risks to terrestrial wildlife that might be exposed to solid-phase materials potentially associated with oil sands reclamation. The initial phase of the assessment involved screening the soil-tailings against published...
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1993
Koverny, L., Bork, P., Johnson, R. L., James, W. H., Allen, E. A. D.
The dewatering of oil sands sludge is a major technological, economical, and environmental challenge to the oil sands industry of northeastern Alberta. Sludge is a mixture of small mineral particles (less than 44 µm in diameter), residual bitumen from the extraction process, and water. Sludge...
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1993
Tedder, W. S., Turchenek, L. W., Krzanowski, R.
Several hundred hectares of peatlands in Alberta have been harvested for horticultural peat moss since the 1960s and have been left unreclaimed. The need to reclaim them to a suitable land use is now recognized. Various kinds of information are required in order to assess land use alternatives...
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1993
This literature review compiles information on salt movement in disturbed soils, particularly in soils that had been disturbed by pipeline construction. The review had two main objectives: to assess climatic and soil conditions under which salts will move out of the root zone in a disturbed soil...