“We will continue to investigate…”
May 5, 2008
Good for Ed Stelmach — he’s exactly right.
Premier Ed Stelmach says Syncrude isn’t off the hook despite the fact the oilsands company placed full-page ads in major newspapers to apologize for an incident where about 500 ducks died in a toxic tailings pond.
“People may go through a stop sign and hurt someone, and they apologize, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t the full investigation,” Stelmach told reporters at a charity walk in Calgary on Sunday.
“You can apologize for the event, but we will continue to investigate the incident and make sure . . . to attach the responsibility for obviously a break-down somewhere.”
Hundreds of ducks died a week ago today after they landed on a tailings pond at Syncrude Canada’s Aurora mine north of Fort McMurray. The pond contains a toxic mix of byproducts left over after oil is washed out of the sand. Most of the ducks sank under the weight of the residue.
I’m not usually a fan of government intervention, but I will say that I am glad the the Alberta govermnent will be investigating whether there was any negligence on the part of Syncrude in regard to the issue of these ducks. It would be nice if the government also took a look at how many thousands of avians get killed every year as a result of wind turbines in the southern parts of the province, of course…every travesty such as this merits investigation.
