05-01-2008, 02:32 AM
Here is the article from the Calgary Herald:
On the same day the Alberta government ventured to bolster the oilsands' environmental image in Washington, the province was tallying a massive wildlife death toll after roughly 500 birds became trapped in a toxic tailings pond north of Fort McMurray.
Most of the oil-coated birds, believed to be mainly ducks migrating north after a long winter, were dead or dying Tuesday at Syncrude's Aurora mine site.
The province expects few will survive. Until now, about 20 birds a year have perished in these northern Alberta ponds made to hold and recycle industrial waste, making it the largest loss of wildlife involving a tailings pond in Alberta.
This is a tragedy and this is unacceptable," Environment Minister Rob Renner said at the legislature.
"We are going to do everything within our power to find out why it occurred, and more importantly, to prevent it from occurring again."
The Syncrude pond lacked gunshot-sounding noise-makers to deter wildlife required under provincial rules between spring and fall.
Company spokesman Alain Moore said workers were in the process Monday of installing the propane-powered cannons, which were delayed due to last week's cold snap.
"It's definitely an unusual event," Moore said. "But it is especially sad and we are sorry that it occurred."
Environmental advocates, however, viewed the birds' deaths as inevitable, contending it's a consequence of lax government regulations amid rapidly expanding oilsands production, pegged to nearly triple to three million barrels a day by 2015.
"This is 500 more canaries in the coal mine and 500 more reasons why we need to put the brakes to (the oilsands) project," said Mike Hudema, a Greenpeace activist in Alberta.
"It's the birds today, but it's water shortages the next day. It's an immense amount of greenhouse gas emissions. It's downstream communities that are facing rare forms of cancer that they believe are linked to the development."
It's this sort of negative characterization of the oilsands that has prompted the Alberta government to mount a $25-million, three-year campaign to boost the Alberta "brand" at home and abroad.
The oilsands has drawn $100 billion in national and international investment. Deputy Premier Ron Stevens, in Washington on a five-day mission to sell the province's oilsands as a secure and environmentally sustainable source of energy, said Tuesday the province is attempting to combat negative perception of its energy development. He suggested soaring gasoline prices will help Alberta's cause, adding the current supply crunch shows that the world needs Alberta's oil more than ever.
"We are probably the only non-OPEC jurisdiction that can actually increase our production of oil over the foreseeable future," Stevens told the Herald after meetings with government and business officials.
A different story emerged in Washington on Tuesday in a Capitol Hill newspaper. In advertisement from a coalition of American and Canadian environmental groups, an oilsands mining operation is captured within an image of a maple leaf oozing oil like blood.
On the same day the Alberta government ventured to bolster the oilsands' environmental image in Washington, the province was tallying a massive wildlife death toll after roughly 500 birds became trapped in a toxic tailings pond north of Fort McMurray.
Most of the oil-coated birds, believed to be mainly ducks migrating north after a long winter, were dead or dying Tuesday at Syncrude's Aurora mine site.
The province expects few will survive. Until now, about 20 birds a year have perished in these northern Alberta ponds made to hold and recycle industrial waste, making it the largest loss of wildlife involving a tailings pond in Alberta.
This is a tragedy and this is unacceptable," Environment Minister Rob Renner said at the legislature.
"We are going to do everything within our power to find out why it occurred, and more importantly, to prevent it from occurring again."
The Syncrude pond lacked gunshot-sounding noise-makers to deter wildlife required under provincial rules between spring and fall.
Company spokesman Alain Moore said workers were in the process Monday of installing the propane-powered cannons, which were delayed due to last week's cold snap.
"It's definitely an unusual event," Moore said. "But it is especially sad and we are sorry that it occurred."
Environmental advocates, however, viewed the birds' deaths as inevitable, contending it's a consequence of lax government regulations amid rapidly expanding oilsands production, pegged to nearly triple to three million barrels a day by 2015.
"This is 500 more canaries in the coal mine and 500 more reasons why we need to put the brakes to (the oilsands) project," said Mike Hudema, a Greenpeace activist in Alberta.
"It's the birds today, but it's water shortages the next day. It's an immense amount of greenhouse gas emissions. It's downstream communities that are facing rare forms of cancer that they believe are linked to the development."
It's this sort of negative characterization of the oilsands that has prompted the Alberta government to mount a $25-million, three-year campaign to boost the Alberta "brand" at home and abroad.
The oilsands has drawn $100 billion in national and international investment. Deputy Premier Ron Stevens, in Washington on a five-day mission to sell the province's oilsands as a secure and environmentally sustainable source of energy, said Tuesday the province is attempting to combat negative perception of its energy development. He suggested soaring gasoline prices will help Alberta's cause, adding the current supply crunch shows that the world needs Alberta's oil more than ever.
"We are probably the only non-OPEC jurisdiction that can actually increase our production of oil over the foreseeable future," Stevens told the Herald after meetings with government and business officials.
A different story emerged in Washington on Tuesday in a Capitol Hill newspaper. In advertisement from a coalition of American and Canadian environmental groups, an oilsands mining operation is captured within an image of a maple leaf oozing oil like blood.