GOLDEN, Colo.-
An 85-year-old Colorado woman has drawn the ire of Syncrude Canada Ltd. after she created a Web site that is critical of the company’s tar sands operations
The company’s legal department sent Liz Moore a letter in mid-April demanding she remove photographs she had posted showing how the company removes oil from tar sands and reclaims land, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported Thursday.
Moore, of Golden, Colo., took the photos last summer on a tour of Syncrude’s operation near Fort McMurray, Alberta.
The company says it owns the photos because Moore signed a waiver on the tour and it won’t allow their reproduction without permission.
Moore says she was appalled by the impact of the oil sands and felt compelled to speak out, so she set up an anti-Syncrude Web site in March.
Company spokesman Alain Moore—no relation—says Syncrude sees the matter as an issue of copyright, accuracy and quality and not the message Liz Moore is giving out.
She isn’t buying that argument, saying she wrote to company executives and told them she had set up a critical Web site.
“I sent them notice, so there was nothing sneaky about it,” she said.
Nevertheless, she has complied with the company’s demand and removed nine of 73 pictures from her Web site. The spots they occupied are now marked “Censored by Syncrude Canada Ltd.”
