Representatives of Hay River Mobile Home Park Ltd., located in Northwest Territories, recently plead guilty in response to a charge of violating subsection 36(3) of the Canada Fisheries Act. The company was fined $150,000, which will be directed to the Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund.
Under the subsection 36(3) of the Fisheries Act, no person shall deposit or permit the deposit of a deleterious substance of any type in water frequented by fish or in any place under any conditions where the deleterious substance or any other deleterious substance that results from the deposit of the deleterious substance may enter any such water.
The events that led to the fine occurred in October 2016. Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers responded to a report from the Northwest Territories 24-Hour Spill Report Line that a fuel sheen had been observed on the Hay River. An investigation determined that a fuel truck parked on Hay River Mobile Home Park Ltd. property had released a diesel/water mixture, over a 20-hour period, onto land adjacent to the Hay River. An undetermined amount of the mixture then entered the Hay River, which is home to a variety of fish species, including walleye, whitefish, and northern pike.
The spill of fuel oil from the truck was the result of a malfunction. The truck remained idle through years of freezing and thawing, until a filter used to separate the truck’s water from fuel cracked. The vehicle’s remaining fuel subsequently drained out and flowed on to the banks of the Hay River. An expert brought testified in court that a projected that between 3.3 liters and 79.1 liters of fuel seeped into the river.
As a result of this conviction, the company’s name will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry.
