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ARTICLE · 25 MARCH 2015

Another Court Refuses To Impose Minimum Environmental Fines

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Another Ontario court has waived the unreasonably high minimum environmental fines for relatively minor offences that the Environmental Protection Act sometimes now imposes.

CanadaEnvironment
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Another Ontario court has waived the unreasonably high minimum environmental fines for relatively minor offences that the Environmental Protection Act sometimes now imposes.

In R. v. Union Gas Ltd., 2014 CarswellOnt 18380, a backhoe excavating a water and sewer line at a private residence inadvertently dropped a rock, which struck an exposed gas line and caused a leak. The general contractor quickly contacted Union Gas, which shut off the gas and contacted police and fire departments. Five residences were evacuated.

None of the general contractor, the excavating company, or Union Gas reported the incident to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change's Spills Action Centre. (If notified, the MOECC would not have had any additional expertise to contribute.) All three companies pled guilty to failing to report the gas leak forthwith to the MOECC as a "spill" under s. 92 of the EPA.

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