Alberta trucking company fined $175,000 for fuel spill in B.C.'s Slocan Valley
Credit to Author: Harrison Mooney| Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2020 01:05:24 +0000
An Alberta trucking company has been fined $175,000 for its role in a 2013 jet-fuel spill in B.C.’s Slocan Valley.
On July 26, 2013, a truck overturned on a service road in the valley, spilling an estimated 35,000 litres of jet fuel into Lemon Creek just outside of Nelson. The incident caused environmental damage, led to residential evacuations and cost Calgary-based Executive Flight Centre Fuel Services Ltd. about $5 million to clean up.
It also led to a rare prosecution launched by a member of the public. Slocan Valley environmental activist Marilyn Burgoon laid charges against both the Province of B.C. and executive flight centre, under the Fisheries Act.
Burgoon died late last year, but the case wrapped up Friday in Nelson provincial court, when executive flight centrepleaded guilty to one count of a deleterious deposit into waters frequented by fish — punishable by a fine up to $300,000.
Instead, executive flight centre was ordered to pay a little over half that amount. The majority of the fine, $165,000, will be used for fish-habitat conservation efforts in the valley, according to the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.
The truck driver, Danny Lasante, was subsequently convicted of one count of introducing waste into environment causing pollution, and fined $20,000.
The province, meanwhile, was acquitted of all charges related to the spill.
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