CANADA/ENVIRONMENT - The slow death of 500 ducks on a toxic oilsands pond in northern Alberta last April has resulted in federal and provincial charges against Syncrude Canada Ltd.
Syncrude has been charged under the Alberta Environmental Enhancement and Protection Act and the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act. The charge specifies that "any person who keeps, stores or transports a hazardous substance or pesticide shall do so in a manner that ensures the hazardous substance does not directly or indirectly come in contact with or contaminate any animals."
Images of the dead and dying birds flashed around the world and has harmed Canada's reputation as an environmental leader.
Syncrude failed to take action to keep the ducks from landing on the pond, knowing full well that the ducks and geese would get caught in the oil and drown.
The provincial charge carries a maximum fine of $500,000. The federal charge carries a maximum penalty of $300,000 and six months in prison and is for "allegedly depositing or permitting the deposit of a substance harmful to migratory birds in waters or an area frequented by birds."
Syncrude claims they bought noise-makers used to scare waterfowl away but never installed them near the pond.
Syncrude earns more than $1 million a day off its oil operations. Toxic runoff/overflow from their operations also kills fish in neighbouring rivers and has contaminated local drinking water.
The penalty seem pretty paltry for a company that flagrantly ignores environmental policies and makes so much profit it can shrug off fines easily.
Maybe they should be charged $800,000 per duck? $400 million would send a stronger message to the Alberta oil industry to clean up their act. And if someone goes to jail, who will it be? We think it should be the CEO for failing to make sure his company complies with environmental policies.
American, Canadian, Toronto & International News Commentary: Spreading Freedom in the Face of Tyranny
February 9, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Affordable Website Design & SEO
|
Featured Posts
The Sarcasm Symbol
Ever had some confusion online or with your cellphone when someone fails to catch the sarcasm? Well now with the SarcMark you can ge... |
|
Behold, the Scorpion Hydrogen Supercar
CARS - To the right is the future of supercars... it is a hydrogen supercar called the Scorpion. The Scorpion from Ronn Motors in Texas is t... |
|
Documents show Stephen Harper misusing public funds
CANADA - According to 950+ pages of documents obtained by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act the Privy Coun... |
|
Pink's Rosie the Riveter
ENTERTAINMENT - What I like about this video is how it meshes different social movements like feminism, veganism, anti-capitalism... |
|
California's Dustbowl
ENVIRONMENT - The photo on the right is a farm in California that has been put up for sale. Its just one of thousands of farms that are n... |
|
Is Steampunk the New Goth???
GOTHIC - Watch out what you see on the subway late at night because while in 2001 you might have seen some pretty freakish goths, by 20... |
|
Do you have enough Ice Water in your diet?
HEALTH - A Calorie (large C) is a measurement of the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a litre of water (1 kg's worth) ... |
|
North Korean timeline towards Inevitable War
POLITICS - The following is timeline of events that have occurred on the Korean Peninsula. 1945 - Japan surrenders to the United States a... |
|
Judgment Day is Tomorrow, so sayeth Cult
RELIGION - According to a cult based in California, Judgement Day is tomorrow (May 21st 2011) and Jesus Christ will return to the Earth a... |
|
Sex in Space Forbidden
SEX/TECHNOLOGY - Sex in outer space is a big no-no according to NASA. Not for professional astronauts at least, but the growing numb... |
Popular Posts / Last 30 Days
-
CANADA / SEX - An Ontario man charged with breaking Canada's nudity laws is challenging the legality of it based on the concept that it...
-
CANADA - I am henceforth boycotting Yak Canada and encouraging other people to do the same. A telemarketer from Yak Canada called me on my...
-
By Charles Moffat - June 2013. Local charity worker Edward de Gale says Toronto needs a new vision of the future. And Torontonians need t...
-
Visit amazon.com/author/moffat to get free short stories and huge discounts on fantasy books by Charles Moffat. Sale ends on October 20th...
-
CANADA - The reputation of the Toronto Transit Commission's buses, street cars and subways' drivers is just going from bad to worse...
-
By Charles Moffat - September 2010. ENTERTAINMENT - Vanilla Coke was first introduced in 2002 and despite widespread popularity and being ...
-
HEALTH - Mexico is on high alert today as the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the fast moving swine flu outbreak a “public health ...
-
CANADA - The Conservative minority government of Canada has committed itself to buying 65 new fighter planes at a cost of $140 million each...
-
CANADA - In the early 1990s immigration actually helped saved the Canadian economy from the recession . Why? Home sales. More population,...
-
POLITICS - In what is sure to be derided as a complete failure G20 leaders who met in Toronto this weekend have agreed to disagree. Arrivin...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete