Canada Oil Kills Ducks

"Ducks Unlimited"? Not in Alberta, where 500 ducks were found dead several days ago in the tailings pond at Syncrude Canada's tar sands operation. The tailings pond: that's the millions of gallons of water used and contaminated each day in the resource-intensive process of extracting oil from the tar sands. Oil companies are supposed to monitor and report such wildlife deaths immediately, but this incident was brought to light by a whistleblower, calling into question the seemingly good previous record of Syncrude.

The provincial and federal governments are investigating, and Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice swears the government will hold the company accountable... kind of like how Governor Rounds swears the state will hold TransCanada and Hyperion accountable for any environmental damage, even though he opposed passing any legislation to support that accountability.

I can hear the responses now: I'm sure someone is going to chime in and say a few dead ducks is a small price to pay for protecting our God-given right to zoom past Presho at 75 miles per hour. And who cares about tailings ponds 1200 miles away?

Well, one scientist says this recent duck-kill is just "the tip of the iceberg" of unreported or unrecognized bird deaths on these tailings ponds. And remember, everything is connected. Look at a map of the Alberta Oil Sands, and you'll see that area, particularly the Cold Lake region, coincides with the region where a lot of banded ducks recovered in South Dakota originate.

So when you gas up the Chevy Tahoe this fall (that should run you about $100) to head out to the slough with your hunting buddies, think about the fact that you've already bagged 500 birds.

We'll be curious to see how much our new corporate neighbors from Big Oil (and their in-state corporate mouthpieces) contribute to Ducks Unlimited, the Izaak Walton League, and other local wildlife and nature organizations to pay penance for their environmental destruction.