Someone at Syncrude needs to lose their job.
Someone at Syncrude has caused more damage to the Heavy Oil industry than all the collective members of Greenpeace could “sweet dream” about.
Of course I am commenting on this foolish decision to plead not guilty to the charges relating to the death of 1600 ducks in one of the companies toxic tailings ponds. Killing the birds apparently wasn’t enough for Syncrude. Reminding us incessantly that they killed the birds and somehow under reported the number of deaths by a factor of 3 all throughout this coming winter until the middle of June 2010 may not even be enough. Who knows with that crazy crowd?!
This is by far the most foolish PR decision ever made by any company in the history of the Energy Sands industry.
Regardless of the actual number of birds killed in the incident (1606), regardless of the number initially reported (500), regardless of the company’s best attempts to prevent the incident and bolster their efforts to prevent a reoccurence, media opinion is clearly not on side. What that means in a nutshell is that the public who do watch the news will get to see yet another negative story about “dirty oil”.
So what we have to look forward to is a wave of negative publicity on and around the date of March 1, 2010.
We can expect the CBC’s “The National” to profile the case (just in case we forget) sometime mid-winter with a rebroadcast of the piece around the middle of February. Then the flurry of negativity for the start of the trial with print, TV, radio and weblog coverage. Then media highlights of the Crown’s case. Then more coverage when the Defence begins. Then a media recap of both sides plus a rebroadcast of the “The National’s” profile piece in case you missed it the first two times. Then the verdict comes in which ramps up the coverage again.
A guilty verdict brings cries of triumph from Greenpeace and TarSandsWatch. Daily interviews with “Greeniacs” crowing about how they leveled an oil giant.
A not guilty verdict brings cries of the industry corrupting the government, or of judicial bias.
From a public relations standpoint – Where is the win?
Essentially between now and sometime around the middle of June 2010 there will be nothing but negative media coverage of the industry.
Someone needs to accept responsibility for this PR fiasco. Someone needs to fall on their sword. Someone from Syncrude needs to apologize for the incident and resign.
Admin.