Green Peace and Syncrude not getting along in the oil sands

Individuals representing GreenPeace were recently charged with trespassing (and nothing else) after infiltrating the Syncrude oil sands property and displaying a giant banner expressing their concern over the toxic nature of the projects tailing ponds.

Tailings, and the ponds that they collect in, are the toxic liquid by-products of the production process, and are what's left when the oil is 'washed' from the Alberta sand.

On their site the Peacers trumpet that "Braving toxic fumes and the same toxic tailings waste that earlier this year killed 500 ducks .... activists deployed a massive banner on the bank of the tailings pond while two other activists erected a banner on the top of another pipe which depicted a large skull and crossbones banner. The skull hung just above the pipe's opening, giving the illusion of toxic water gushing from the "mouth" of the skull."

Syncrude — a joint venture owned by Canadian Oil Sands Trust, Imperial Oil Ltd, Petro-Canada, ConocoPhillips, Nexen Inc., Nippon Oil Corp. unit Mocal Energy Ltd. and Murphy Oil Corp. — could not be reached for comment.

Industry has also launched a web site to show that it cares about the environment, you can see it here. The home page they've set up to counter the bad publicity has a quote by Marcel Coutu, Syncrude's chairman, that says:

"If you ask people for their views, you better be prepared to listen. I expect some tough criticisms of our industry, but we need to hear them directly from the public. If a criticism is unfair, we need to explain why. If it is fair, we need to act."

The bigger question is "What happens to the tailings and the collection ponds once the oil is gone?"