Oil sands company pleads not guilty

The Associated Press

Canadian oil sands company Syncrude pleaded not guilty Sept. 14 to charges relating to the deaths of 1,600 ducks on its toxic waste pond last year.

The deaths of the mallards drew widespread attention and prompted Prime Minister Stephen Harper to lament that Canada’s international reputation had been tarnished by it.

Syncrude officials told court the company did everything it could to prevent the incident and has since installed better technology to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

At the time of the incident, Syncrude said it was having problems with its electronic cannons, which were used to scare the birds away from the oily waters. The cannons were not operational at the time but have now been fixed.

“It is not possible for anybody to do more than Syncrude has done to ensure that it never happens again and so we’ve pleaded not guilty,” said Syncrude lawyer Robert White.

The company insists that it is not legally responsible in the incident, but the prosecution, along with environmental groups, firmly disagree.

“What we’re going to see here is a lot of legal wrangling as they try and wrangle and weasel their way out of their responsibility,” said Bruce Cox with Greenpeace Canada.

Alberta and federal governments

The provincial charge carries a maximum fine of $500,000, while the charge from Environment Canada, the country’s environmental agency, could cost the company up to $300,000.

“The prosecution in our view is still necessary because I don’t think the public would be accepting that they’ve simply made some changes and that’s good enough,” said prosecutor Kent Brown.

The trial is scheduled for next March.

Oil sands form an important Canadian industry but the process of separating out the oil has been criticized by environmentalists as highly polluting.

The pond contained waste from the separation process. Dozens of toxic tailings ponds have been building up over 40 years in northern Alberta. A plan announced earlier this year aims to force companies to clean up the sludge over several decades.

The flock of ducks landed on the tailings pond in April 2008. Such ponds, which contain billions of liters of water left tainted after being used to remove oil from sand in the area, sit along the flyways birds use to migrate to and from northern nesting grounds.

Only a handful of ducks survived. Syncrude, which had initially reported 500 ducks were involved, later admitted the actual number was triple that amount.