Recycling company fined for Fisheries Act violation in Edmonton
November 7, 2014 – Edmonton, Alberta – Environment Canada
This week, General Recycling Industries Ltd. (GRI) pleaded guilty in Alberta Provincial Court to one count of an offence under the Fisheries Act, related to the release of a deleterious substance into fish-bearing waters. The company was sentenced to a $75,000 penalty.
On April 28, 2012, Environment Canada received notification that “oily water” was being pumped from GRI property into a storm sewer. An Enforcement Officer attended the site and observed a four inch hose discharging industrial wastewater into the sewer, which flows into Mill Creek and subsequently the North Saskatchewan River. Both bodies of water are fish-bearing.
Sample analysis confirmed that the wastewater was deleterious to fish. An investigation into the incident was opened and the company was charged in 2013.
$73,000 of the penalty will be allocated to the Environmental Damages Fund.
Quick Facts
- GRI is a scrap metal recycling company in Edmonton.
- Mill Creek is home to various types of small minnows, while the North Saskatchewan River is home to a number of fish species, including lake sturgeon and walleye.
- The Environmental Damages Fund is administered by Environment Canada to direct funds received as a result of fines, court orders, and voluntary payments to projects that will benefit the health of our natural environment.
Associated Links
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Muskrat from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
It's difficult watching Muskrats when my friends insist on moving along, shuffling the dead leaves up, and/or meowing! They are so impatient!
5 comments:
What a busy wee fellow, superb video. And the fine, it seems to me to be a trifling amount for pollution that was deliberate. I have no sympathy for any firm that does that, knowing how it will affect so many fish, animals and people too. Take care as your days get colder, only 4.3 Celsius here at 5 a.m. Hugs,Jean
No doubt the company will shrug, pay that off with no problem, and carry on with their contempt for the world around them.
What a busy critter!
I agree with Nancy. That wee fine is hardly a deterrent. They should have to pay for the entire cost to clean it up and then some. I wish we could force them to drink the water they polluted.
I didn't hear about this incident! I don't get the Edmonton paper.
Hari OM
Fabulous filming!!! AS to the environmental... tsk... YAM xx
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