Environmental protection has a price tag, as do environmental violations. This is not exactly news to anyone involved in environmental protection/management.
Staying on the protection side and avoiding the violation side requires constant diligence. Providing tips and reminders regarding compliance/assessment/remediation is one of the goals of our blogs and our monthly environmental compliance tips.
On occasion, we also share with you some of our observations on the violation side (see our post from last fall, Environmental Enforcement Roundup). The observations below provide a snapshot of reported violations we have seen thus far in 2017.
Refinery fined $500,000
According to a press release from Environment and Climate Change Canada, (ECCC) “On February 24, 2017, Valero Energy Inc. – Jean Gaulin Refinery (formerly Ultramar Ltd.) in Lévis, Quebec, pleaded guilty to six counts, and it was sentenced to pay the sum of $500,000. The company was ordered to pay a $120,000 fine for failing to comply with an order issued by an officer, thereby committing an offence under paragraph 40(3)(g) of the Fisheries Act. The court also ordered the company to pay the sum of $380,000, pursuant to paragraph 79.2(f), for the financial benefits it obtained through these violations.”
ECCC also states, “The investigation conducted by Environment and Climate Change Canada found that Valero Energy Inc. – Jean Gaulin Refinery had committed the following violation six times: Failure to comply with a directive requiring rehabilitation and environmental monitoring work issued following the deposit of a deleterious substance in water frequented by fish.”
As a result of this conviction, Valero Energy will be added to the national Environmental Offenders Registry.
Pulp and Paper Effluent Results in a $125,000 Fine
On February 9, 2017, Fibrek S.E.N.C. pleaded guilty to two charges and was fined $125,000 for violating the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations.
The fine, under the Fisheries Act, was based on “depositing acutely lethal effluent from its water treatment system” and failing to report the incident.
Fibreck, S.E.N.C. will also have their name added to the Environmental Offenders Registry.
Dry Cleaner Fined
As we have written on several occasions, regulators are (still) focused on dry cleaners. The most recent enforcement that came across our desk was a March 1, 2017, case in Mississauga (this follows a January 2016 inspection). In this case, “…the former operator of a dry-cleaning facility located in Mississauga, pleaded guilty, in the Ontario Court of Justice, to one count of contravening the Tetrachloroethylene Regulations…”
Specifically, the company was cited for no secondary containment around a container that had tetrachloroethylene residue.
The (former) owner of the dry cleaner was fined $5,000.
$107 Million Cleanup
As it relates to the cost of environmental protection, or in this case, environmental remediation, Husky Energy provided an update on remediation of a spill of 225,000 litres of crude oil and “dilute” in and near the North Saskatchewan River. According to a February press release, the cost estimate in September of $90 million rose another $17 million for a total cost of $107 million to remediate the release. The report also says that $88 million of the costs is addressed by insurance coverage.
Finally, complicating the environmental protection equation is the recent suggestion by the Canadian Bar Association of potentially “big” environmental litigation in 2017. With this in mind, avoiding the violation side may require increased diligence.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions or need assistance on an environmental compliance/assessment/remediation matter. You can reach me (cpare@dragun.com) at 519-979-7300, ext. 114.