EDMONTON (CP) -- A company spokesman is defending the legal proceedings, saying the lawsuit is a way to preserve safety at the massive Aurora oilsands operation near Fort McMurray, Alta.
Mike Hudema, a Greenpeace spokesman, said the court action, and an application for injunction to bar any future actions by protesters, is meant to punish the environmental group for a protest at Syncrude's oilsands plant last month.
Eleven Greenpeace members were each handed a $287 fine at the time for trespassing at the company's mine site.
Activists said they were planning to block a pipe which flows into a toxic tailings pond where 500 ducks died in April.
Hudema said that Syncrude acknowledged the protest didn't affect production, yet wants Greenpeace to pay damages and cover the company's legal fees.
"Definitely we see this as a very punitive lawsuit that is designed to try and stop our efforts and to send a very big chill to other folks who are bringing to light some of the immense problems associated with the development of the Alberta tarsands, and Syncrude specifically," he said.
They're consulting a lawyer as to their next steps, but Hudema noted the lawsuit combined with their legal bills could stretch into the "hundreds of thousands" of dollars.
The veteran activist says the lawsuit also means that perhaps their actions are having at least some of their desired effect.
"For them to take this type of over-the-top action show some of the success of our organization and other people in bringing to light some of the devastation that's occurring with the tarsands," Hudema said.
Alain Moore, a spokesman for Syncrude Canada Ltd., said the mine site is vast, and potentially dangerous to the inexperienced.
He said they filed the lawsuit as a safety measure to discourage others from following Greenpeace's lead.
"We run a large mining operation with some of the most complex, and largest equipment in the world. So there's a risk involved if you don't know how to drive or navigate those areas so we wanted to make sure something like this didn't happen again," he said.
"These people didn't have the training or the escort they needed to ensure their safety and well being and it's quite concerning that they came on our site without authorization and the proper escort, because of the severe safety implications of doing so," Moore added.
There were also potential safety risks to staff who had to drive around the vast area in pickup trucks during the search and to the drivers of the huge heavy-hauling dump trucks used to transport the oilsands material, he said.
There were also significant staff costs associated with the search, including time spent rounding up the protesters, shepherding them off the property and then checking their oilsands operations for any potential damage.
Moore denied the company is trying to intimidate its detractors with the lawsuit.
"We know there's an important discussion and debate about the oilsands, and we're an active part of that and we think that's an important process. We just think there are more proactive and responsible ways to do that," he said.
Syncrude is the world's largest oilsands mining project, with an average capacity of about 350,000 barrels per day.
Canadian Oil Sands Trust (COS) has a 37% stake in the project, followed by Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO) with 25%, Petro-Canada (PCA) with 12%, ConocoPhillips with 9%, Nexen Inc. (NXY) with 7% and Murphy Oil Ltd. and Mocal Energy Ltd. each with 5%.
Last month, the trust increased its quarterly distribution by 25% to $1.25 per unit as soaring oil prices helped the firm book a second-quarter profit of $497 million.
© Canadian Press
