Canada's Syncrude has pleaded guilty to the deaths of 31 blue herons at its oil sands mine in northern Alberta and fined C$2.75 million. According to Alberta's energy regulator, the birds died after becoming oiled in an abandoned sump that was built to collect process-affected water containing residual bitumen from a storage site at the mine. Syncrude was previously fined C$3 million for negligence in the 2008 deaths of 1,600 ducks in a toxic tailings pond. For the full story, see https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-syncrude-fine/syncrude-fined-c2-75-mi….