Photo credit: The Toronto Star
You've probably heard by now about the Canadian oil sands. Until the recent increases in oil prices, the cost of extracting oil from them made it unprofitable. Now, oil companies are extracting over 700,000 barrels of oil a day from the region.
On Friday, one of the largest of these companies, Syncrude, posted an apology after failing to set up deterrent sounds at a trailings pond. Migrating ducks mistook the pond for water and dove into it to rest, becoming encrusted with sludge. Many died quickly, succumbing to drowning or hypothermia, but at least one oil-covered duck was shot by a hunter miles from the site.
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Sunday, May 4, 2008
Hundreds of Migrating Ducks Die in Canadian Oil Sands Disaster
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1 comment:
This is awful... those poor ducks. And so completely unnecessary.
I think it is interesting that Syncrude blamed "late snowstorms" for its failure to install air cannons. Those late snowstorms are likely yet another climate change effect—which is being driven by the use of hydrocarbon fuels, produced by companies like... Syncrude. (Isn't it tidy how it all comes together?)
I would also like to note that I find the Toronto Star's reporting of the incident to be refreshing in its willingness to express a sense of tragedy over this and other corporate misdeeds that harm wildlife and resources. An American paper would remove any tone of sorrow or outrage; ostensibly for "balance", but more likely to avoid offending big-oil advertisers.
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