Company Charged with Environmental Violations for Illegal Releases

A processing plant released a mixture of mostly saline wastewater with some hydrocarbons into a nearby creek. In addition, the company failed to immediately report the pipeline release of approximately 850,000 litres of wastewater into a water body. As a result, almost one kilometre of the creek and associated wetlands were impacted. The Alberta government charged the company with four violations of the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, including releasing or permitting the release into the environment of a substance that causes or may cause a significant adverse effect and failing to report the release to the proper authorities as soon as it occurred. Environment Canada has also laid charges against the company under the Fisheries Act [SemCAMS ULC, Govt. News Release, Feb. 17, 2012].