Oil sands: Northern Alberta oil sands field
Syncrude in deep over duck disaster
Canadian producer Syncrude could face fines of up to $987,000 after 500 migrating ducks were trapped after landing in a tailings pond filled with oil sands waste at the company's Fort McMurray site, officials said.
Reports in the Canadian media said only five of an estimated 500 ducks were recovered alive from the pond.
Two later died and the remaining three were sent to Edmonton for emergency medical treatment.
Most of the birds that landed on the Syncrude tailings pond were diving birds.
"Most have sunk. They were oily, and the oil made them sink," Cheryl Robb, from Alberta Environment told the Edmonton Sun.
Syncrude spokesman Alain Moore told CNN that the company is working with Alberta Fish & Wildlife in hopes of rescuing some of the birds.
A Syncrude statement released on Tuesday afternoon said noise makers used from spring to fall to deter birds from entering the ponds were not used because of a recent heavy snowfall, which delayed their deployment.
Syncrude said it was the first time in 30 years of operation that an incident like this has taken place.
The Alberta Environment Board warned of possible fines of up to $987,000 if Syncrude did not have equipment in operation to scare birds away from the toxic pond.
The Alberta government was not alerted to the incident by Syncrude but by a tipster who called Monday night, the province's Premier Ed Stelmach said.
"If something has happened of this sort, then we feel that the company is obligated to report to the minister of the environment. It’s a condition of their licence," Stelmach said.
Garry Keller, spokesman for Federal Environment Minister John Baird, said the department has asked Environment Canada enforcement officials "to take immediate action to investigate this serious matter, including whether any laws were broken."
The incident came as Alberta Deputy Premier Ron Stevens is in Washington trying to convince US lawmakers to ignore the view taken by environmental groups that Alberta's oil sands projects have been developed at a huge cost to the environment.
The US is considering a law that will restrict imports of "dirty oil" that produce more greenhouse gas emissions than other sources.
Stevens is trying to get the oil sands exempted from this law, but he has been dogged by environmentalists who took out an ad in a Capitol Hill newspaper that has the maple leaf oozing oil.
Alberta is home to vast reserves of oil sands. Industry officials estimate the region could yield as much as 175 billion barrels of oil, making Canada second only to Saudi Arabia in crude oil reserves.