Any guesses how and if this may effect the CLL?

REUTERS Details scarce in new Alberta oil sands plan

By Scott Haggett
CALGARY, Alberta, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The government of the
province of Alberta released a new strategy on Thursday to
guide development of Canada's oil sands, the largest oil
resource outside the Middle East, despite plunging crude prices
and collapsing investment in the region.
The province's Conservative government said it plans to
speed reclamation of toxic tailings ponds, boost refining and
processing of oil sands bitumen within Alberta, and ease the
social impact of the massive investments needed to further
exploit the resource.
While shy on details, the province's 20-year strategic
plan seeks to fend off criticism that the environmental cost of
producing tar-like bitumen from the oil sands is too high.
Oil sands development has been attacked for wreaking havoc
on the environment in northern Alberta and for emitting huge
amounts of carbon dioxide.
The government plan, however, does not seek to further
regulate oil development in the Florida-sized region, where
costs skyrocketed during the oil boom years as new projects and
expansions competed for labor and materials.
"I don't see any deterrents to investment" in the
provincial strategy, said Don Thompson, president of the Oil
Sands Developers Group.
Rising costs made most new oil sands investments uneconomic
when oil prices collapsed last year, and more than C$90 billion
($72 billion) of projects have been deferred, delayed or
canceled.
Alberta also plans to use the bitumen that it receives from
oil sands producers instead of cash royalties to spur
investment in value-added processing facilities.
The plan includes measures that would see toxic tailings
ponds reclaimed at a faster rate than new tailings are
produced.
The oil sands tailings ponds gained notoriety last year
when 500 ducks died after landing on a pond operated by
Syncrude Canada Ltd, the biggest oil sands producer. That
caused an international outcry over the environmental cost of
producing petroleum from the oil sands.
Earlier this week, the federal and provincial governments
laid environmental charges against Syncrude because of the duck
deaths. The company could be fined as much as C$800,000 under
the charges.