Oil companies go to court accused of killing 1,600 ducks

Yesterday in Canada, one of the tar sands oil giants was charged in court with killing 1,600 ducks. These ducks were flying to nesting grounds in spring 2008. The area of Alberta over which they were flying is a beautiful Boreal forest and wetlands wilderness and a critical nesting region for songbirds and waterfowl. Unfortunately, deep under the forests and wetlands lies a tarry substance called bitumen. At great expense in terms of money, water, natural gas and wildlife habitat, the major oil companies are strip-mining the forest for this so-called “tar sands.” They turn it into gas and diesel for our cars and trucks. In the meantime, they also have created 50 square miles and growing of lakes of mining waste.

To a bird, the mining waste lakes look like water. But when they land they are coated in oil and they die. As shown in NRDC’s report on the impact of tar sands on migratory birds, tailings ponds may cause the deaths of 8,000 to 100,000 birds every year, most of which go unreported.

The trial today included photographs of the oiled and dying birds. I was going to attach one, but it is too sad to share.

Bird lovers in the United States should say no to tar sands oil. You can do this by clicking the “Act Now”

button on this site. The United States is on the brink of helping expansion of the tar sands mines and operations that destroy and fragment bird nesting habitat. Oil companies try to make tar sands sound attractive, clean and safe. But it is impossible to make the abrupt death of 1,600 ducks sound like anything but what it is: the sign of an industry whose destructiveness is not worth it.

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