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Hundreds of ducks dying in oilsands pond

by ppeggy | May 1, 2008 at 11:02 am | 308 views | add comment

This is sad, but not surprising. It was inevitable that we would start hearing about environmental catastrophes associated with oilsands development in northern Alberta. Syncrude is going to have huge duck-rescue bills if they have to use cranes to lower boats into the tailings pond in order to get to the birds. The guy who forgot to set the shotgun recording usually used as a deterrent is obviously in big trouble.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - Hundreds of migrating ducks are dead or dying after landing on a tailings pond owned by Syncrude Canada Ltd. and ice surrounding the small lake full of toxic sludge is hampering rescue efforts.

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach was visibly angry Tuesday as he questioned why noise-making canons were not deployed to scare the waterfowl away from the pond filled with oilsands wastes.

"The problem here is that there's ice around the pond and you can't just push a boat in (to rescue some of the birds)," said the premier. "The company will have to lower the boats by crane into the water."

Company and government officials estimate there are roughly 500 birds trapped in the toxic pond in a disaster that has never before been witnessed in the northern Alberta oilsands region.

"Many of them will die as a result of this incident," said Syncrude spokesman Alain Moore. The birds landed on the pond Monday.

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Oil-soaked ducks flown to city JIM FARRELL EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON

Three oil-soaked ducks that landed in a Syncrude tailings pond earlier this week arrived by plane in Edmonton on Wednesday for the cleaning, medical treatment and weeks-long recovery period that could save their lives.

The ducks — two mallards and a small bufflehead diving duck — were flown to Edmonton by Syncrude.

They were among hundreds of waterfowl that received potentially lethal doses of oil and chemicals when they interrupted their northern migration to land on the tailings pond at Syncrude’s Aurora oilsands site. Only two other ducks of the approximately 500 that set down on the pond this week are believed to have been rescued from the contaminated water.

The three female survivors that are now being treated in Edmonton are at risk from a number of factors that may kill them in the coming days and weeks, said Kim Bloome, founder of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Society of Edmonton.

“Based on what is in that retaining pond, toxic chemicals may erode their (gastro-intestinal) tract or shut down their kidneys,” said Bloome. “The stress of handling may also kill them.”