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

CBC News

· Posted: Jul 04, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Oilsands elephantine Suncor has been fined $5,000 for burying known situation for slope swallows during mining operations successful bluish Alberta 3 years ago.

The Calgary-based institution was issued the punishment by the Alberta Energy Regulator past week for an incidental adjacent Fort McMurray successful June 2023.

The regulator fined the institution for failing to guarantee that captious vertebrate situation was protected from crushed excavation operations astatine the mining site. 

According to the investigation, worldly was placed implicit a slope known to beryllium utilized by slope swallows arsenic a nesting site, apt sidesplitting oregon injuring the birds and destroying their nests.  

The institution failed to implicit a required wildlife expanse of the tract earlier the slope was buried, the probe found. A 100-metre buffer that should person been maintained astir the nests, a request nether national biology laws, was not enforced, the AER ruled.

"There is nary nonstop grounds of destroyed nests oregon dormant slope swallows," Candace MacDonald, a manager of tract operations for AER, wrote successful her punishment determination against the operator.

"However, the imaginable for the slope swallows to person go injured oregon killed and nests destroyed by the disturbance successful these circumstances is highly probable." 

Alberta's oilsands manufacture has faced scrutiny and investigations for a drawstring of vertebrate decease incidents.

Suncor, among the largest operators successful the oilpatch, has a past of specified infractions.

In 2017, 123 birds were reported dormant astatine the company's Fort Hills oilsands project. More recently, successful May 2023, much than 30 birds, including delicate waterfowl species, were recovered dormant astatine Suncor's tailings ponds sites successful northwestern Alberta. 

In the probe of the incidental involving slope swallows, Suncor told the regulator that they could not beryllium definite whether the nests were progressive oregon not erstwhile the slope was buried. 

The lone mode to find retired would beryllium to excavation up the area, which the regulator determined would apt origin much harm to the already damaged habitat.

Cyberattack blamed

CBC News sought remark from Suncor connected the punishment but did not person a response. During the people of the AER investigation, institution officials blamed the incidental connected a cyberattack that near its wildlife monitoring systems inaccessible. 

Documents amusement the punishment for the infraction was elevated due to the fact that of Suncor's deficiency of owed diligence pursuing the cyberattack and the bird's fragile conservation status. 

Bank swallows, which commonly nest adjacent h2o and excavate burrows into the soil, are listed federally arsenic a threatened species. Bank swallows are besides protected arsenic a migratory taxon nether the national Migratory Birds Convention Act. 

The Alberta authorities has classified the taxon arsenic delicate since 2015, arsenic losses successful caller decades person near section populations susceptible to quality and concern disturbance.

These protected statuses bespeak a request for a "heightened awareness" astir this species, the regulator found.

"The request to behaviour a wildlife expanse oregon walkthrough earlier conducting immoderate onshore disturbance serves arsenic a safeguard for wildlife, aiming to support taxon specified arsenic slope swallows and sphere captious habitats specified arsenic their nests,"  MacDonald wrote.

"Suncor yet failed to place their mistake and instrumentality due mitigative measures." 

Suncor had a strategy successful spot to show wildlife but the institution said the program, contained successful a spreadsheet, was not disposable astatine the clip of the incidental due to the fact that of a cyberattack.

A backup spreadsheet to way the wildlife programme had been acceptable up but institution officials told investigators that the backup papers was besides not disposable astatine the clip of the incidental owed to "information exertion limitations."

The regulator said the institution demonstrated a deficiency of owed diligence and failed to travel its ain biology policies. 

"With some Suncor's wildlife sighting tracking programme and backup Excel spreadsheet not being available, Suncor should person been connected a heightened consciousness and diligence to guarantee each workgroups were alert of the slope swallow nests to mitigate the imaginable of this contravention occurring," MacDonald wrote successful her investigative report. 

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

According to the investigation, Suncor has since implemented further measures to forestall akin incidents, including updating its wildlife extortion policies to see a onshore disturbance checklist that volition guarantee mandatory sweeps are completed earlier imaginable vertebrate situation is disturbed by mining operations.

The administrative punishment was formally issued connected June 26. Suncor has 30 days to record an appeal.