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TechnoratiSyncrude Triples Number of Dead Ducks From Oil Sands
Calgary - The number of ducks that died in a tailings pond at the Syncrude oil sands mine is more than three times as high as first estimated.
![[A female Mallard duck is gets its bill cleaned of oil in April, 2008, after being transported from the Syncrude tailings pond at their tar sands site near Fort McMurray, Alta. (The Canadian Press)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/oilsands_duck.jpg "oilsands_duck.jpg")
A total of 1,606 ducks died in April last year, many of them after they dove into a pond containing bitumen and drowned north of Fort McMurray, Alta., Syncrude president and chief executive officer Tom Katinas said in a news conference Tuesday morning. The company initially said only 500 died.
Mr. Katinas called it an "extremely sad event" that occurred when the ducks landed on the Aurora settling basin, which was one of the few areas of open water in an unusually cold spring.
He outlined a number of measures the mine is taking to prevent a similar occurrence from happening this year, including a 30-per-cent increase in the number of noise cannons. The company will now employ 190 cannons, and "the noise generated from these cannons will be monitored. And some of it will be directed to the sky, so we'll measure the decibel rating as well," Mr. Katinas said.
The dead ducks were discovered April 28, 2008. Mr. Katinas said Syncrude, in conjunction with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, made an initial estimate of 500 dead, based on the numbers they observed at the pond. However, many of the ducks had already drowned by that time, and were not visible from the surface. As they decomposed, they came floating back to the surface over subsequent months, he said.
"I really don't know what to expect from the public," he said as he disclosed the new tally. "I can only tell you how we feel. We felt very badly about 500 in the first place. I don't believe that as badly as we felt, you could feel three times worse than we did. But we do feel badly."
The incident last year caused Syncrude international embarrassment and provoked a flurry of environmental criticism of the oil sands.
Last month, Alberta and Ottawa charged Syncrude with breaking environmental laws.
The energy giant could face fines of up to $800,000 if convicted under provincial and federal environmental legislation.
Under the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, Syncrude could be fined up to $500,000 for failing to ensure that "a person who keeps, stores or transports a hazardous substance or pesticide shall do so in a manner that ensures that the hazardous substance does not directly or indirectly come into contact with or contaminate any animals, plants, food or drink."
Syncrude also has been charged federally under the Migratory Birds Convention Act for "allegedly depositing or permitting the deposit of a substance harmful to migratory birds in waters or an area frequented by birds." The maximum penalty is $300,000.
The charges are the first of their kind against an oil sands company. They come as Alberta and Canada attempt to promote the resource as a safe, secure supply of energy at the same time as environmentalists are waging a "dirty oil" campaign against the so-called tar sands.
On April 28, 2008, the birds were found dead or dying in a toxic soup located along a migratory route for hundreds of thousands of waterfowl. Alberta requires effective bird deterrence by energy producers, but at the time, Syncrude explained that a spring snowstorm prevented the company from erecting noisemakers around the massive pond to scare away flocks.
Syncrude spokesman Alain Moore said at the time the company was charged that this was the first time anything like this has occurred in the decades the company has been operating in the region.
"We feel horrible it happened. There's a huge resolve in our organization to make appropriate changes to prevent it from happening again," he said.
With files from reporter Dawn Walton
13 Comments so far
Show AllWord to Syncrude: your industry's days are numbered. Take the skills you've acquired in surveying and cleaning up your mess, and morph into a company who specializes in environmental research and remediation. Bleed your current competitors dry by garnering government contracts to investigate and ammend the damage they have wrought.
It's an idea...whaddaya think?
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If you don't ask yourself why, you know nothing.
somebody said it in another posting.... it is TAR sands, not OIL sands.
"OIL" makes it sound alot more OILY, it isn't.
Even in this supposedly environmental article, they call them the "so-called" tar sands while referring to it plainly as oil sands.
This should be criminal, but obviously the PR of the TAR sands companies is working...
Are these people so greedy, do they love money so much, that life - any life - has no meaning whatsoever?
I'm sure they feel bad about the negative publicity, but nothing will change.
""I really don't know what to expect from the public," he said as he disclosed the new tally. "I can only tell you how we feel. We felt very badly about 500 in the first place. I don't believe that as badly as we felt, you could feel three times worse than we did. But we do feel badly.""
Maybe you should stop it, you greedy fuck.
This is such a robot, heartless answer he gave, isn't it?
Only bad, sad news, but at least this company "seems" to care..Since they and many of us are disgusted with the results of what occurred, maybe we can use this bad situation as something to learn from and figure what went wrong and how to ensure that it does not happen again, that all those ducks did not die in vain.. There has to be a way, right?
If this planet is slowly (so sadly) dying, we, the survivors will have to find ways to ensure the survival of many different species as they face their killers.. We need to try to save enough of every species to ensure an ecosystem that will (hopefully)keep functioning, and lose no species- a good goal.. An obvious one we are facing right now- what's up with the bee's disappearing? Most of us realize the disaster of losing more and more bees, if we lost them(?!!?)..So, for example, what could we do to turn this around? Do we stay away and try not to "interfere?" Let it play out as it is, just watch as (stupid) bystanders?? Or do we start taking actions to encourage bees to come pollinate in our own back yards, and around our neighborhoods, as we have thus planted plants and flowers that bees love to pollinate, and bee around..
And what is up with this "oil sands mining?" I have heard it is not very efficient anyways.. We seriously need to stop taking from the earth, maybe start giving back- granted though it is not nearly as re tarted thinking as mountain top removal- what is that?
Last thing, I applaud this company for at least appearing to have a heart on this manner.. Many companies would see "big" profit, countered against the death of a few ducks. Big deal, take the money, they say.. And I understand your position, you may have a family to watch after, and cars to fill with gas, so you need money.. But if things keep going as they are, and we don't start seriously policing ourselves, this temperate planet is going to go crazy, and that oil that you kept on spilling past the time when WE KNEW RIGHT, will be a tear drop in all of our eyes, and the blood of our children.. I realize that you guys need to make your profit, but if you are paying attention you know it is getting scary dangerous, we need to turn this ship around.
How do we keep our ecosystems clean, healthy, and functioning? From the great Red Woods, to the coral reefs, from you to me.. peace..
It is a very sad state of affairs. But one must also take into account that birds and other wildlife are killed every day/month/year by Greener ways as well. Wind Turbines are a good example for bird and bat deaths (http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=28de9bd8-0a99-4935-bd34-9997a5808ebc). It is only fair to note that more are killed each year by hitting homes and vehicles than wind turbines (and syncrude ponds for that matter), but all are man-made nonetheless. It is just wise to note ALL such factors when investigating wildlife deaths in situations such as this.
In terms of the agony these poor creatures would have endured, presumably suffering a slow tortuous death, well, I don't think there's any comparison
I think the figures are 40% are killed from hitting buildings and vehicles, around 1% from wind turbines.
With our runaway breeding, our profit driven pollution, our endless wars, the story and picture may well picture what we on this planet are all rapidly becoming.
A dead duck.
That picture says it all, and would not be so bad if we didn't know it merely represented a million other scenes just as bad and was not symbolic of a dying planet.
The entire tar sands project is a major environmental disaster that should be stopped immediately! Oil from tar sands in not the road to a viable energy future.