Duck and Cover [1]
Submitted by Bob Burton [2] on
The Alberta government has hired crisis management [3] guru Peter Sandman [4] to help it defuse concerns over the environmental impact of the oilsands mining industry. In April, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach sought to defend the discovery of 500 dead ducks found in a tailings pond. At a cost of C$35,000, Sandman spent two days advising Alberta Environment officials on how to "handle regular public meetings and controversies" over oil extraction. "It's not a secret that when you mine bitumen, it's pretty ugly. ... It's not shocking that tailings ponds occasionally kill ducks," Sandman said. Lindsay Telfer from the Sierra Club of Canada [5] told the Calgary Herald that she wondered how Sandman's advice affects the government's "very specific attempts to greenwash [6] the oilsands."