Group vows to stop tar sands; Death of ducks raises awareness of environmental costs

Andrew Cowie, June 4, 2008, Metro News -- The ducks of the Syncrude tailing pond incident may be dead, but they won’t be forgotten.

That was the message from Stop Tar Sands Operations Permanently, an affiliation of people concerned with what they see as unchecked exploitation of the oilsands.

The group dumped hundreds of plastic ducks in the fountain at the Legislature to symbolize the ones that died in the Syncrude tailings pond last month and to help raise awareness on a potential environmental disaster.

“We hope Albertans are paying attention,” said Fraser Porter, spokesperson for the group.

“We’re really just touching the tip of the iceberg in terms of the health consequences Fort McMurray and Albertans will be facing.”

While the group said the government should be using better ideas on how to clean up the excess made by the mines, they weren’t able to comment on what those ideas would be.