ELLIOTT: Letter - Response to "Ducks Die in oily Sask.

[Oscar]

Sent for publishing on May 15, 2008

Letter to the Editor, Saskatoon Star Phoenix

I am writing in response to the article "Ducks die in oily Sask. pond".

There are some serious problems that are not being addressed and this recent incident is just the tip of the iceberg emerging.

Firstly, the response of Newalta to the deaths of the ducks in their ponds is unacceptable. They have been working in Saskatchewan and Alberta long enough to know and should have anticipated such incidents happening. After all, ducks return here every spring looking for wetlands, something that has disappeared in most of southern Saskatchewan.

Anyone who lives here on the prairies will know that so Newalta's inability to stop this from happening or mitigate problems like this is not an adequate excuse. It is just poor management. And this government should have had them prepare sufficient mitigative plans to have anticipated and stopped this from happening. Blaming the wet spring is inadequate.

Secondly, the response of the Wall government to this incident is telling of a growing problem. They are becoming the apologizing mouthpiece of the corporate world and it is just going to be too bad if the environment gets trashed while making millions from the public resources of this province. We have already seen the impacts of the tar sands on northern Alberta and the people that live there. This is going to or has come to Saskatchewan and will only get worse. This government sees the destruction of the environment as being just unfortunate collateral damage and we are going to have to deal with the consequences while the corporate sector gets massive profits and we get the bill to clean up their mess. This is only going to get worse with the expansion of the tar sands into northern Saskatchewan and the increasing acid rain coming from Alberta. The tailings ponds in Alberta are massive toxic soups (15 square kilometres) that will significantly dwarf this small pond incident and it's only going to get worse.

And all of this effort, environmental damage and increased greenhouse gas emissions is to fuel the collapsing, dirty and scared American economy. We do not and will not have access to 65% of the oil and gas that is coming from this province. It's going to the United States. We
are getting little of the benefits and we are already getting some of the consequences.

Jim Elliott,
Regina Chapter,
Council of Canadians