Suncor fined after protected bird nests were buried at Alberta oilsands mine

Oilsands giant Suncor has been fined $5,000 for burying known habitat for bank swallows during mining operations in northern Alberta three years ago.

The Calgary-based company was issued the penalty by the Alberta Energy Regulator last week for an incident near Fort McMurray in June 2023.

The regulator fined the company for failing to ensure that critical bird habitat was protected from ground excavation operations at the mining site. 

According to the investigation, material was placed over a bank known to be used by bank swallows as a nesting site, likely killing or injuring the birds and destroying their nests.  

The company failed to complete a required wildlife sweep of the site before the bank was buried, the investigation found. A 100-metre buffer that should have been maintained around the nests, a requirement under federal environmental laws, was not enforced, the AER ruled.

"There is no direct evidence of destroyed nests or dead bank swallows," Candace MacDonald, a director of field operations for AER, wrote in her penalty decision against the operator.

"However, the potential for the bank swallows to have become injured or killed and nests destroyed by the disturbance in these circumstances is highly probable." 

Alberta's oilsands industry has faced scrutiny and investigations for a string of bird death incidents.

Suncor, among the largest operators in the oilpatch, has a history of such infractions.

In 2017, 123 birds were reported dead at the company's Fort Hills oilsands project. More recently, in May 2023, more than 30 birds, including sensitive waterfowl species, were found dead at Suncor's tailings ponds sites in northwestern Alberta. 

In the investigation of the incident involving bank swallows, Suncor told the regulator that they could not be certain whether the nests were active or not when the bank was buried. 

The only way to find out would be to dig up the area, which the regulator determined would likely cause more harm to the already damaged habitat.

Cyberattack blamed

CBC News sought comment from Suncor on the penalty but did not receive a response. During the course of the AER investigation, company officials blamed the incident on a cyberattack that left its wildlife monitoring systems inaccessible. 

Documents show the penalty for the infraction was elevated because of Suncor's lack of due diligence following the cyberattack and the bird's fragile conservation status. 

Bank swallows, which commonly nest near water and excavate burrows into the soil, are listed federally as a threatened species. Bank swallows are also protected as a migratory species under the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act. 

The Alberta government has classified the species as sensitive since 2015, as losses in recent decades have left local populations vulnerable to human and industrial disturbance.

These protected statuses indicate a need for a "heightened awareness" around this species, the regulator found.

"The requirement to conduct a wildlife sweep or walkthrough before conducting any land disturbance serves as a safeguard for wildlife, aiming to protect species such as bank swallows and preserve critical habitats such as their nests,"  MacDonald wrote.

"Suncor ultimately failed to identify their error and take appropriate mitigative measures." 

Suncor had a system in place to monitor wildlife but the company said the program, contained in a spreadsheet, was not available at the time of the incident because of a cyberattack.

A backup spreadsheet to track the wildlife program had been set up but company officials told investigators that the backup document was also not available at the time of the incident due to "information technology limitations."

Suncor should have been on a heightened awareness and diligence.-Alberta Energy Regulator

The regulator said the company demonstrated a lack of due diligence and failed to follow its own environmental policies. 

"With both Suncor's wildlife sighting tracking program and backup Excel spreadsheet not being available, Suncor should have been on a heightened awareness and diligence to ensure all workgroups were aware of the bank swallow nests to mitigate the potential of this contravention occurring," MacDonald wrote in her investigative report. 

"Even though Suncor had policies and procedures in place, these were not followed." 

According to the investigation, Suncor has since implemented additional measures to prevent similar incidents, including updating its wildlife protection policies to include a land disturbance checklist that will ensure mandatory sweeps are completed before potential bird habitat is disturbed by mining operations.

The administrative penalty was formally issued on June 26. Suncor has 30 days to file an appeal.