$320,000 Penalty Imposed on Paper Mill for Fisheries Violations

A paper company notified Environment Canada of a spill of evaporator condensate, a by-product of the mill process and deleterious to fish, into the Madawaska River. During the investigation, the mill reported two more deposits of effluent acutely lethal to fish into the St. John River. The investigation found that the overflow tank of evaporator condensate was blocked to prepare for the mill’s annual shutdown, which contributed to the first spill. The other deposits occurred during dredging activities at the mill’s secondary effluent treatment lagoon. The company pleaded guilty to violating the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations and the Fisheries Act. The court fined it $1,000 and ordered it to pay $319,000 to the Environmental Damages Fund [Twin Rivers Paper Company Inc., Govt. News Release, Dec. 22, 2015].