BIRDS STILL DYING DESPITE NDP RUNNING THE PROVINCE
Change in governance hasn’t led to cleanup of toxic tailings ponds in province’s oilsands
I guess the birds didn’t get the memo.
The 120 or so birds that died in a tailings pond this week north of Fort McMurray obviously didn’t understand the environmentally conscious NDP is now the government in Alberta, not the environmentally unconscious Progressive Conservatives.
The birds weren’t supposed to do a swan dive, so to speak, into the credibility of the eco-friendly NDP. But that’s just what they did this week by ignoring the technology — including scarecrows and noise-making cannons — set up to frighten wildlife away from the deadly lakes.
The birds’ demise reminds us the NDP — so loud in opposition when tailings ponds killed ducks under the PC watch — is no better at protecting wildlife than its predecessor.
In 2008, after 1,600 ducks died in a particularly horrific incident involving tailings ponds, then-NDP leader Brian Mason called the deaths a “disgrace.” He demanded (but didn’t get) an emergency debate in the legislature.
“It would do our international reputation a lot more good if they would simply enforce environmental regulations rather than let this kind of thing happen as they’re spending a lot of taxpayers’ money trying to convince the world that we’re environmentally responsible,” Mason said in 2008. “Let’s be environmentally responsible — that’s the first step.”
Back then, the government was under attack for letting the tailings ponds grow unfettered.
The death of the ducks in 2008 was an environmental protest as staged by Mother Nature — and couldn’t have been more effective if each bird had worn a little Stop the Tar Sands T-shirt as it disappeared beneath the surface of the toxic lake.
The story made headlines around the world and focused attention on the environmental impact of the oilsands with a drama protesters and opposition politicians could only dream of.
Ducks dying by the hundreds is one reason Alberta’s oilsands was dubbed “dirty oil” by environmental groups.
In response, the NDP positioned itself as the one party that would hold industry to account.
“I think right now they’re just being allowed to create these tailings ponds and just leave them and in some time, in some future generation they will be cleaned up,” a cynical Mason said in 2012.
The NDP is now in government, but birds keep dying in tailings ponds that continue to grow.
You could argue that no matter how many scarecrows and noisemakers you put on an effluentfilled tailings pond, some bird will mistake it for a safe landing spot.
You could also argue we have too many tailings ponds which, in some cases, are more like lakes you’d need a boat to get across or two hours to walk around.
It’s an issue the Calgarybased environmental group, the Pembina Institute, has been complaining about for years, first under the PCs and now under the NDP.
“After 50 years of industry and government’s broken promises on cleaning up tailings, there are now 1.2 trillion litres in the ponds,” said Jodi McNeil, a technical analyst at the Pembina Institute. “Based on the plans submitted by companies to date, tailings volumes will continue to increase to 1.5 trillion litres that will not begin to disappear from the landscape for at least another 20 years.”
The NDP government said it is pushing industry to invest in new technologies to slow the rate of growth in tailings ponds. But it’s also asking critics for some patience and understanding.
“These are problems inherited from the previous conservative government,” said Mike McKinnon, spokesman for Energy Minister Margaret McCuaig-Boyd.
“They failed to show leadership and, as such, the solutions cannot be achieved overnight. But our government is taking steps to ensure we learn from these incidents and do what is necessary to better prevent them from happening again.”
Let’s hope the birds get the memo.