Tar sands could threaten millions of migratory birds.

• Author: Block, Ben
• Position: EYE ON EARTH

In April 2008, an anonymous tip alerted Canadian officials to the fact that 500 ducks had mistaken a tar sands company's polluted reservoir in Alberta as a safe place to land. Hundreds of decomposed ducks have since risen to the surface, leading Syncrude Canada to clarify that its toxic tailings pond in fact killed an estimated 1,606 birds.

The losses have become symbolic of the problems associated with the development of tar sands--strips of sand or clay mixed with bitumen, a dense form of petroleum. In a 2008 report, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Pembina Institute, and the Boreal Songbird Initiative estimated that if all of Alberta's proposed tar sands projects came to pass, the death toll could reach 166 million birds over the next 50-60 years.

"We say we have laws that are supposedly protecting migratory birds in both Canada and the United States, but clearly that is not happening," said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, a senior attorney with NRDC who is currently suing the governments of both countries to halt tar sands developments.

With the price of oil reaching record highs in recent years, costly tar sands became an affordable option for many energy companies...