Continued development could kill 100 million migratory birds

Canada's plans to mine more of its oil sands have just sunk deeper into the political mire. A new report saying that millions of migratory birds are at risk adds to a mass of criticism of the damage caused by exploiting the oil sands.

The thick tarry deposit in northern Alberta is the world's second-largest oil reserve after Saudi Arabia, but separating the useable oil from the gunk takes three times as much energy as pumping conventional oil. This alone makes it some of the "dirtiest" oil on the planet.

This week, a report by the US Natural Resources Defense Council says that continued development of the area could kill 100 million migratory birds over the next 50 years, mainly by destroying their habitat.

The US government has already banned its agencies from buying fuel made from oil sands, and President-Elect Barack Obama has hinted that he will crack down on "dirty" fuels as part of his climate-change strategy.

All this bad press has had results. Even the Alberta provincial government, which relies on money from the sands, is tightening up its environmental oversight. It also plans to invest CAN$2 billion (US$1.6 billion) in capturing carbon dioxide emitted by the oil sands industry.

Such actions would have been unthinkable a year ago. The oil sands might be one of the first energy sources to lose their lustre in the US's newly critical eye on fossil fuels.