Update on the private prosecution against Syncrude over the 500 migrating ducks who drowned in their tailings pond. Shaun Fluker of the University of Calgary Faculty of Law is blogging on it at the faculty's blog cleverly called ABlawg.ca
According to Professor Fluker the action is founded on an alleged breach of Section 5.1 of the Migratory Birds Convention Act of 1994. I understand there is a Canada US treaty protecting migratory bird habitat too. That brings an international persepective to the issues and Obama may be on it too.
This is federal legislation so both Alberta and Canada will be interested. The first Court appearance is anticipated sometime in February.
I am going to be watching this one very closely because I am working on it professionally from a public policy and lobbying perspective. I will keep you up to date on what is happening.
PHOTO CREDIT: /Sheryl McAuley in Flickr
And how many wrongs will make a right in terms of burning down a house in Edmonton?
ReplyDeleteInteresting to read Neil Waugh calling out Alison Redfern. One would have thought that Justice could have helped Alberta's cause by moving quickly on this.
I wonder if a lawsuit is going to be brought against US Airways over the killing of some birds that caused the plane to crash.
ReplyDeletePrivate environmental prosecutions have always given the Alberta government hives. Ostensibly this is becuase they open the door to a lot of unfounded crank complaints being laid. If that were the real reason, it would be easy to guard against by third-party reviews of merits, cost penalites, etc. In fact Alberta has preferred to drag its feet on prosecutions where the accused are economically or politically powerful, or simply to avoid controversy. The Province has worked to discourage private citizens from causing ripples in those calm political waters, especially in matters of the environment. I look for the Attorney-General to quash this prosecution at the first possible instance. Syncrude will be let go with a wink and nod. Alberta's international reputation for lax environmental protection will be reinforced once again.
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