Readers may remember that in May last year 500 ducks died on a toxic Canadian pond used by the Syncrude oil company as a ‘settling basin’ for its tar sands operations. Now non-profit Ecojustice has launched a private prosecution of the company, punning that Syncrude “cannot duck” its responsibility for the deaths (press release).

“Pollution from tar sands extraction is making the environment too toxic for birds and people,” says Alberta resident Jeh Custer, in whose name the prosecution is being launched. “The regrettable failure of the Alberta and federal governments to enforce their own environmental laws means that ordinary Canadians must act”.

The Canadian Press says:

An Alberta government spokesman said in July a decision on whether to lay charges was expected within weeks, but there has been no word. A government spokesman was not immediately available to comment yesterday. But, earlier in the week, a spokesman with the provincial Environment Department told The Canadian Press that a decision was expected “any time now.”

“If we are able to put together our own prosecution in two months on a shoestring budget, why are the feds and the province still sitting on their hands?” says Custer (Globe and Mail).

A hearing will take place on 19 February with a Can$300,000 ($250,000) fine the maximum penalty (Reuters).

“The fact that a flock of waterfowl landed and drowned in a tailings pond last spring was unacceptable and, in fact, all of our employees felt horrible that this occurred at our operation. There is tremendous resolve at Syncrude to take the appropriate steps to help prevent this from happening again,” says Syncrude spokesman Alain Moore (Edmonton Journal).