Feature story - March 10, 2009
Oil giant Suncor has been served with 90 charges ranging from knowingly falsifying documents to dumping untreated waste water into the Athabasca River, Greenpeace has learned.
Braving toxic fumes and the same toxic tailings waste that earlier this year killed 500 ducks, Greenpeace activists entered Syncrude's Aurora North tar sands operation in July 2008 and attempted to block a pipe into the two-kilometre wide tailings pond.
Suncor silent
On March 10th, CBC News obtained documents detailing the charges, which were laid more than a year ago in February 2008 under Alberta's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act. There was no public announcement at the time, nor did Suncor publicly acknowledge the charges themselves. The CBC learned of the charges in connection to a court appearance by the company on April 2nd in Fort McMurray.
"These charges once again show that the government's system of letting industry report and police itself is incredibly flawed," said Greenpeace tar sands campaigner Mike Hudema. "We now have documented evidence that one of the largest tar sands companies has been falsifying reports and stand accused of dumping raw waste into our environment. Suncor and the government must both be held to account for these actions."
False information
The violations that Suncor faces span nearly three years, from 2005 to 2007. The document says parties "did knowingly provide false or misleading information." Charges include "failing to report," "knowingly contravening a condition" of their agreement, and "knowingly providing false or misleading information" regarding monitoring and results.
The charges also allege that undertreated waste water was dumped into the Athabasca River for more than two years. Most of the charges deal with Suncor's Millenium Lodge work camp and waste water discharges from there directly into the environment.
Big questions
Hudema asks: "Since this camp is one of the most public parts of tar sands operations it begs the question what else is going on? What limits are being exceeded on the mine sites? At the toxic tailing lakes? What else are these companies failing to report? What other documents are they falsifying and how can the public believe anything they say?"
The maximum penalty on conviction for more than half of the 90 charges is $1,000,000 for a corporation. An individual would face $100,000 and up to two years in jail.