Canaport LNG was fined $750,000
after thousands of birds died at Saint John terminal
The deaths of thousands of songbirds at
the Canaport LNG terminal more than three years ago resulted in a $750,000
penalty against the company, and now some of that money will be used for
migratory bird conservation, according to Nature NB executive director Vanessa
Roy-McDougall.
The non-profit, charitable
organization working to protect New Brunswick's natural heritage will get
$125,000 to help support groups and programs studying bird migration and
conservation.
In September 2013, thousands of
birds were drawn to a 10-to-15-metre gas flare during a period of fog and low
cloud. Twenty-six species of migratory birds died, including four Canada
warblers, a threatened species.
Canaport LNG pleaded guilty
to federal charges under both the Migratory Birds Convention Act and the
Species at Risk Act.
Hawk Watch funding
The funding will enhance the work
of the Saint John Naturalists' Club's two bird migration monitoring
programs, according to Roy-McDougall.
"Some of the money will go
toward the Greenlaw Mountain Hawk Watch, which observes the hawks
that migrate along the coast in the fall," she said. "In the spring,
it will fund their project at the Point Lepreau Bird Observatory."
The project, which has been going
on for 20 years, identifies the bird species that use the coast as a flyway in
the spring.
"All of that information
will be entered into a North American database that helps researchers look at
the types of hawks that migrate, when they migrate, and the species," said
Roy-McDougall.
