Syncrude guilty in Alberta duck deaths

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/06/25/edmonton-syncrude-duck-trial-verdict-expected.html

Last Updated: Friday, June 25, 2010 | 3:23 PM MT

CBC News

Shown is one of more than 1,600 ducks that landed on a Syncrude tailings pond on April 28, 2008, in a photo taken by Alberta wildlife biologist Todd Powell. (Government of Alberta) Oilsands giant Syncrude was found guilty Friday on both environmental charges in the April 2008 deaths of 1,600 ducks in a northern Alberta tailings pond.

Syncrude was charged under the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act with failing to protect migratory birds from a toxic tailings pond.

In a decision delivered to a packed courtroom in St. Albert, Alta., provincial court Judge Ken Tjosvold said Syncrude didn't exercise due diligence in preventing the birds from landing on the water.

He pointed to evidence presented during the trial that showed Syncrude made staffing cuts and actually scaled back its bird deterrent system before the ducks died.

While Tjosvold found Syncrude guilty on both counts, he did not enter convictions.

Legal arguments will take place later this summer about whether convictions should be entered on both counts, because the charges are similar in nature.

The ducks died April 28, 2008, on Syncrude's Aurora tailings pond in northern Alberta, about 75 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.

The trial, which started on March 1 and wrapped up on May 12, featured some dramatic evidence, including video and still images of ducks struggling in the bitumen that floated on top of the tailings pond.

The Crown argued that adequate deterrents to dissuade birds from using the pond, including air cannons and scarecrows, weren't in place when the ducks died.

Syncrude officials said a spring storm delayed installation of such equipment.

Defence lawyer Robert White argued the charges against Syncrude were intended for companies that dump toxic materials into lakes or rivers, not companies that have legal tailings ponds.