(Adds comments from Syncrude spokesman)
By Jeffrey Hodgson
Aug 8 (Reuters) - Alberta's energy regulator is
investigating the deaths of 30 blue herons at a Syncrude Canada
oil sands site in the northern part of the Canadian province,
the agency and company said on Saturday.
The Alberta Energy Regulator said it sent investigators to
the Syncrude Canada Mildred Lake site, which is about 40 km (25
miles) north of Fort McMurray.
In 2010, Syncrude was fined C$3 million ($2.29 million) for
negligence in the 2008 deaths of 1,600 ducks in a toxic tailings
pond, a case that fueled international concern about the
environmental impact of developing Canada's oil sands.
Syncrude spokesman Will Gibson said the blue herons were
found Wednesday and Thursday in a sump, or dugout, near a pump
house, rather than a tailings pond.
While the company operates a system for deterring birds from
landing on the tailings facilities, Gibson said it would not
have been deployed in the area where the herons were found.
"Our goal is finding out what happened and ensuring that
it's not repeated," he said.
Syncrude's partners include Canadian Oil Sands Ltd COS.TO ,
Imperial Oil Ltd IMO.TO , Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO , Sinopec
0386.HK , CNOOC Ltd's 0883.HK Nexen, Japan's Mocal Energy and
Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Co MUR.N .
In November, the Alberta regulator cleared several oil sands
operators of responsibility for the deaths of 196 waterfowl that
landed on their toxic tailings ponds, saying poor weather forced
the birds down. ID:nL2N0TA2IL
($1 = 1.3128 Canadian dollars)
(Editing by Lisa Shumaker and James Dalgleish)