The world’s largest oil sands company now admits that a total of 1,606 ducks were found dead last spring after initially reporting the death of only 500 birds.
The ducks died last spring after landing in one of the heavily polluted tailings ponds of made by Syracrude Canada Ltd. Tailings ponds collect the waste from the company’s oil sands operations. Once the birds hit the water, there was little chance of saving them.
“A completely oiled bird would sink nearly immediately,” acknowledged Syncrude Environmental Services Manager Steven Gaudet soon after the incident.
Oil sands companies are supposed to deter birds from landing in their tailings ponds by using noisemaking cannons to scare birds away. However, the company said that the cannons on this particular tailings pond were not yet operational due to a late spring snowstorm.
The Syncrude company officials have apologized for the bird’s deaths, but given no explanation for only now admitting to such a high death toll. This news comes as the company is seeking to expand the volume of another Alberta tailings pond. Already, the Canadian province is the site of dozens of toxic tailings ponds.
In a related article, the environmental NGO Boreal Songbird Initiative has estimated that some 166 million birds could be killed over the next 30 to 50 years as a result of oil sands extraction in Canada.
Image credit: species_snob via Flickr, under a Creative Commons license.
Via: Statesman Journal.
Unfortunately this is the sort of ecological danger that will be ever more present as the tar sands are further developed. Until a viable alternative to crude oil is found, however, this is a reality that will have to be endured. The tar sands are simply too valuable of a resource under the current economic development model that affords little value to the environment. Until there comes a time that the true cost of ecosystem degradation is factored into the price of development, it’s essential that we strive for the strictest of oversight and accountability.
I am so very saddened by this. It hurts my heart.
This is very poor public communications strategy forcing Syncrude to endure a second round of negative media. Someone should lose their job over it.
The reasons consumers don’t believe oil and gas companies is because they don’t ever seem to tell the truth.
It is also a slap in the face to the Alberta government who has always been the oil sands biggest supporter. Now the government has to re-evaluate the fines it has already levied for the original 500 dead birds that were previously reported.
Although I am saddened by the loss of so many blameless creatures, I can’t help but think, better dead ducks than soldiers laying down their lives for foreign oil.