The letter-writer advocates the oilsands be phased out, in part, because of “the yearly death of wildlife.” A Google search of “Syncrude bird deaths” finds the following facts as reported by news media over the past few years.
In 2008, Syncrude Canada Ltd. was fined $3 million in connection with the deaths of 1,606 birds on its tailing ponds.
In October 2010, more than 550 birds had to be destroyed when an early winter storm forced the birds to land on the toxic waste ponds belonging to Syncrude and Suncor.
This is in addition to the most recent incident involving 122 birds.
In other words, the oilsands project has resulted in the reported deaths of about 3,000 birds over the past six years.
In comparison, Smithsonian magazine in December 2013 and National Geographic in April 2014 report the deaths of hundreds of thousands of birds that collide with wind turbines.
Will the letter-writer join me in petitioning Ottawa and Washington, D.C., to halt the construction of new wind turbines and to immediately begin the dismantling of existing wind farms, which are responsible for the slaughter of wildlife by the millions?
Michael Madsen
Victoria
