Alberta's environment ministry says the euthanizing of more than 200 birds at a Syncrude tailings pond in northern Alberta Tuesday was just the latest in a series of similar incidents at other oilsands companies in recent days.
Alberta Environment spokesperson Cara Tobin said a "handful" of birds also landed on tailings ponds at Suncor Energy and Shell facilities during a freezing rain storm Monday night.
Syncrude Canada officials said Tuesday the company had to euthanize 230 birds that landed on its Mildred Lake settling basin and came into contact with toxic bitumen floating on the surface.
Later Tuesday, Suncor released a statement saying officials found birds had landed at the company's oilsands site "shortly after reports of freezing rain in the area last night."
"At this time, the company has recovered a small number of oiled birds, which were euthanized on direction from Sustainable Resources Development, Fish and Wildlife," Suncor's statement read.
According to Tobin, the ministry has launched a "regional investigation" into whether bird deterrent systems were in place and in good working order on Monday evening. Both Suncor and Syncrude said their deterrent systems were fully operational when the incidents occurred.
The news of the probe came hours after Syncrude announced it had to euthanize the birds and blamed the landings on a freezing rain storm that made it difficult for the birds to fly.
In a statement posted to its website, the company said waterfowl were found late Monday evening at various locations at its oilsands development site, including roads, parking lots and the Mildred Lake and Aurora settling basins. The company notified provincial officials immediately, the statement said.
The statement also said that 125 birds had to be euthanized after coming into contact with the bitumen.
As of early Tuesday evening, that number jumped to 230 birds.
"This definitely is not something that we wanted to see happen," Syncrude spokesperson Cheryl Robb said. "It's hit us really hard."
Syncrude and Alberta government officials are still assessing the remaining birds found at the site, the company said.
"We are cooperating fully with regulators and are working to minimize waterfowl losses," Syncrude president and CEO Scott Sullivan said in the statement. "This is very unfortunate, especially given the significant efforts we have taken to improve our deterrent system."
After the birds were discovered, company officials used extra air cannons, flare guns and air horns to scare the birds from the Mildred Lake tailings pond, to no avail.
The company blamed a freezing rain storm in the area for making it difficult for the birds to fly. Birds found on roads and in parking lots were approachable, "strengthening the opinion that fatigue forced them to land," the company said.
Rob Renner, the province's environment minister, said Tuesday the latest incident is "discouraging in the extreme."
"I thought we had moved the agenda significantly forward so that this kind of incident would be minimized, but the fact of the matter is that we are now dealing with what appears to be a similar incident.
"The timing," he added, "obviously couldn't be worse."
The incident comes less than a week after Syncrude was fined $3 million for the deaths of 1,600 ducks in one of its tailings ponds in 2008. In June, a judge ruled the company broke both provincial and federal wildlife laws by failing to prevent birds from landing on its Aurora tailings pond.
Lawyers for Syncrude had argued that at the time of the incident, the company was caught unprepared by a late-spring snowstorm and the birds were forced to land on the tailings pond.
But court also heard the company had fallen behind setting up some parts of its bird deterrent system.
Renner said provincial officials will investigate Syncrude's claim that the deterrent system was fully operational on Monday.
Edmonton MP Linda Duncan, the NDP's environment critic, said the latest incident proves the tailings ponds must be closed.
"This is reprehensible," Duncan told The Canadian Press. "It makes a mockery of the (recent) conviction.
"No amount of penalty or donation to a large institution will prevent this from continuing to happen."
Greenpeace spokesperson Mike Hudema said the provincial government needs to crack down on Syncrude and other companies with tougher regulations.
"Syncrude needs more than a slap on the wrist, and this government needs to do more than just being the public relations firm for the tar sands industry," Hudema said.
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach called the latest incident "frustrating," but said he will wait to reserve judgement until the investigation is complete.
With files from The Canadian Press
