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Mercer Peace River fined $1M for unlawful river dumping
October 16, 2024 By CFI Staff
Mercer Peace River will pay $1 million in government fines for dumping toxic wastewater into the Peace River in Alberta.
The mill, currently down for repairs, has pleaded guilty to the Alberta Court of Justice to one count of violating the Fisheries Act, following an investigation by Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers.
The investigation determined Mercer Peace River deposited, or permitted the deposit of, 30,868,000 litres of effluent that was acutely lethal to fish from its pulp mill into the river near the Town of Peace River in April 2021.
A release by investigators says the deposit of toxic wastewater into fish-bearing waters violates a conditions to deposit effluent set out in Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations in the Act.
The pulp mill operates a wastewater treatment system that treats effluent before it is released to the Peace River.
The wastewater treatment system has a spill pond designed to capture and store effluent resulting from spills or unusual operating conditions.
Once in the spill pond, effluent is gradually reintroduced back into the treatment system at a controlled rate to minimize its overall negative effect.
The investigation found the offence occurred during a maintenance shutdown of the pulp mill.
The shutdown generated waste materials from process vessels and wastewater from cleaning operations which were directed into the spill pond.
Mercer Peace River had not maintained sufficient capacity in the spill pond to capture the additional effluent. As a result, the spill pond did not function as designed.
The investigation determined that the reduced capacity within the spill pond contributed to the offence.
Mercer Peace River has since taken steps to increase the capacity of the spill pond by removing sludge and upgrading the associated pumping system.
The fine will be directed to the Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund.
As a result of this conviction, the company’s name will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry. The registry contains information on convictions of corporations registered for offences committed under certain federal environmental laws.
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