You’d think that executives at oilsand company Syncrude would have learned, but it’s obvious they haven’t after revealing that it wasn’t just 500 ducks that died in their toxic settling ponds, but 1,600. (CBC story on dead ducks.)
Who advises these guys? Looking at this whole thing from a public relations perspective, and with the Alberta oilsands under attack from practically the rest of the world, you’d think they’d realize that you should put the bad news out first. All of it.
Be right up front with the disaster and lay it all out. You don’t want people thinking that you’ve swept it under the carpet, have something to hide, have skeletons in the closet, etc. Of course, that’s the line of thinking. People inherently don’t trust the oilsands companies anyway, but there would be a chance of that if they handled these things properly.
The perception might change slightly if you’re the first to the table with bad news, exactly what happened and what you’re doing to stop it from happening again. It defuses the media a bit because they’re so used to the opposite. It will hopefully help the perception that you’re truly sorry and are really taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And, hopefully, the company really is.
Any true PR professional would have advised Syncrude to go public with all the details immediately and not extend the news cycle on this fiasco. If Syncrude executives didn’t listen, shame on them.
The whole situation with the oilsands is going to take more than just a $25 million publicity campaign by the Alberta government to make it go away. For world opinion to change, there’s going to have to be real action to clean up the tar ponds and minimize the carbon footprint. There are no shortcuts.
I’m just curious how they’re going to handle it when it happens again, because it will.<–>
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3 comments
Justin Jackson says:
Apr 1, 2009
I agree completely. I’d also want to hear (after the initial incident) how they are going to clean up these “ponds.” Ducks are always going to be tempted to land in an open body of water; especially one that melts faster than a real pond.
Here’s the other thing: stories like this reverberate internationally. This isn’t just an Albertan issue (or a Canadian issue) – the world has taken notice of the oil sands, and we’ve got to clean up our act.
Related: Alberta re-branding on Brand New.
Alain says:
Apr 1, 2009
Good points & thanks for the comment. Interesting link on the rebranding of Alberta.
What needs to happen is the settling pond issue needs to be resolved as quick as possible. I’m sure these ponds flow and leach into the groundwater.
Also, with their underground chemical and steam processes, how does that affect groundwater?
I think that the oilsands can be mined in a reasonably environmentally friendly manner. Just figure it out.
Alberta rebranding suffers an image problem | alainsaffel.com says:
Apr 23, 2009
[...] has a huge carbon footprint (it uses massive amounts of natural gas and other fuels), its huge toxic tailings ponds are leaking and killing ducks and it uses very large amounts of fresh water (which ends up in the toxic tailings ponds). From [...]