Green initiative earns Emerald Award

(Fort McMurray, Alberta) Syncrude’s commitment to the environment through applying leading-edge research to its land reclamation efforts was recognized at a provincial awards ceremony Tuesday, June 7th.

The multidisciplinary research program that studies how to improve our techniques for reconstructing watersheds on our reclaimed landscapes was presented an Emerald Award in the category of Research and Innovation.

“Syncrude is proud of its commitment to sustainable development and this is another example of how we’re living up to our own high standard,” said Don Thompson, corporate secretary and general manager of Environment, Health and Safety.

“This award is a credit to everyone involved in the program,” he added. “In particular, special credit goes to the graduate students and universities from across Canada that have made significant contributions to this research program with their own studies on Syncrude’s reclaimed land.”

This initiative improves Syncrude’s understanding of the fundamentals of ecosystem performance through extensively instrumented and monitored plots of reclaimed land. Water, energy, salts, and nutrients are tracked as they cycle through the reconstructed watershed. Where these elements are stored and released in an ecosystem defines how sustainable that ecosystem is. That knowledge is then applied to optimize our current and future reclamation efforts.

Syncrude invested about $15 million on reforestation and reclamation programs in 2004. To date, the company has reclaimed over 4,000 hectares of land and planted more than three million tree and shrub seedlings.

The Syncrude Project is a joint venture operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd. and owned by Canadian Oil Sands Limited, ConocoPhillips Oilsands Partnership II, Imperial Oil Resources, Mocal Energy Limited, Murphy Oil Company Ltd., Nexen Inc., and Petro-Canada Oil and Gas.

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