Sincrude Processing Plant, Fort McMurray, Alberta from louisa conrad on Vimeo.


Washington Post article on Migratory Birds dying in Tar Sands tailing ponds (as shown above, noise your hear is a blast going off to scare birds from landing)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122500928.html

CHICAGO -- About half of America's migratory birds fly from destinations as far-flung as Chile to nest in Canada's boreal forest. In Alberta, that forest lies above tar sands that contain oil reserves second only to Saudi Arabia's.

The excavation of the tar sands -- projected to pump $2.4 trillion into Canada's economy between 2010 and 2030 -- could reduce the region's migratory-bird population by almost half, according to a peer-reviewed study released Dec. 2 by U.S. and Canadian environmental groups.

The Connecticut warbler and the blackpoll warbler, which fly through the Washington area en route from Alberta's boreal forests, are among about 300 species affected by tar sands mining. The study estimates that over 30 to 50 years, tar sands excavation will reduce bird populations by anywhere from 6 million to 166 million, including several endangered and threatened species. The world's only natural breeding ground for endangered whooping cranes, for example, lies north of the Albertan tar sands, and the Athabasca River, which feeds the cranes' wetland habitat, flows north through the sands.