Reuters: The province of Alberta and the Canadian government laid charges against the Syncrude Canada Ltd joint venture on Monday after 500 ducks died in April after landing on a tailings pond at Syncrude’s oil sands operation in northern Alberta. The province alleges Syncrude, the world’s biggest oil sands producer, failed to have appropriate deterrents in place to keep the ducks from landing on the huge and toxic waste-water pond. The ducks became fouled in the tailings pond after a …