The province says it will not charge Syncrude and Suncor after more than five hundred birds died at their tailings ponds almost two years ago.
It happened on October 25th and 26th of 2010 when 551 birds were either killed or euthanized after coming into contact with bitumen.
But the government was advised that the companies couldn’t have prevented the landings, and that the main reason was the bad weather at the time.
It says because of that, the crown prosecutor decided there likely wouldn’t be a conviction.
The advice came from a leading expert at the University of Alberta on human-wildlife encounters.
The government says the advice also includes better ways to keep birds away from tailings ponds when the weather is bad – and that info’s been shared with companies.
October 4, 2012
