'It will happen again': U of A professor on bird deaths in oilsands tailings ponds

The Alberta Energy Regulator is investigating the deaths of 122 birds that died after landing in oilsands tailings ponds. The three toxic waste ponds involved belong to CNRL, Syncrude, and Suncor, and the companies say that foggy weather may have been a factor in the deaths.

In the spring of 2008, 1,600 birds died after a mass landing in oilsands tailings ponds. Syncrude was fined $3 million for that incident. And in 2010, another 550 died after landing in the ponds during an October storm.

"It's crazy... we should stop pretending that you can have open pit mines and their associated infrastructure, covering 700-ish sq km of what used to be boreal forest, and not harm wildlife," says Colleen Cassady St. Clair, biology professor at the University of Alberta, to As It Happens host Carol Off.

St. Clair recently wrote a report that includes recommendations on how to deter birds from landing on the tailings ponds.

"It will happen again," she says, adding that we have to accept that more birds will die on tailings ponds.

St. Clair has recommended that operators create safe spaces within the tailings ponds where birds can land, drawing them away from any bitumen.

"Current regulations sort of prohibit acting on [my] recommendations because regulations continue to require that operators try to keep birds from landing anywhere on their process-effected water ponds at any time."