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Veolia Poop Pellets Escape

Veolia Water Canada Inc. makes fertilizer pellets (sold as Nutri-Pel) from secondary sewage sludge. It was fined $70,000 for letting some of them escape into a creek. During the winter, Nutri-Pel is...

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$150,000 fine for $2 million chemical spill

Chemtura Canada, a chemical manufacturing company in Elmira, Ontario, was fined $150,00 for discharging 4200 kg of BLE-25 and 112 kg of acetone into the air. BLE-25 contains diphenylamine (DPA), and is...

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Contaminated site lawsuit: How not to win

Owners of a contaminated site are often too optimistic about their “rights” to compensation. Sometimes, chasing compensation for contamination just throws good money after bad. For example, Terrim...

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Do the innocent get compensation after MOE orders?

Cleaning up your neighbour’s mess: Recovery of spill clean-up costs by the innocent party. It is clear that any civilized system of law is bound to provide remedies for cases of what has been called...

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Dirty Loonie: powerful art about wildlife and oil

A very powerful environmental artwork was on display in City Hall’s parking garage during Toronto’s Nuit Blanche. Dirty Loonie shows an oil derrick, with a dead loon as the tip of the derrick. With...

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Supreme Court will hear important appeal: is flying rock a discharge?

The Supreme Court of Canada has granted Castonguay Blasting leave to appeal its disturbing  conviction for failing to report a “discharge”, contrary to section 15 of the Environmental Protection Act....

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Fewer oil tanker spills in 2011

In 2011, oil tankers spilt less oil than ever before since records began, according to the excellent International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation. There were only four medium sized spills and one...

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Stadacona: Do employees know what samples to take?

Last fall, Stadacona was convicted under the (former) Fisheries Act and the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations. According to Environment Canada, “Stadacona General Partner Inc. pleaded guilty to...

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When will Ontario courts refuse to impose minimum environmental fines?

Now that mandatory minimum environmental fines are so high, courts occasionally refuse to impose them.  For example, in R v. KIE Farms Ltd., a justice of the peace refused to impose a $25,000 minimum...

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Innocent victim, Kawartha Lakes, gets leave to appeal spill cleanup order

The Ontario Court of Appeal has granted leave to appeal the Ministry of the Environment Order requiring an innocent victim of a spill, the City of Kawartha Lakes, to clean up oil from a domestic fuel...

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Federal Environmental Commissioner tables 2012 report

The 2012 Fall Report of Scott Vaughan, federal Commissioner of the Environment and of Sustainable Development, was tabled today at 10:00 a.m. in the House of Commons.This Report focusses on the gaps...

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National Energy Board and safety rules for construction near pipelines

The National Energy Board (NEB) is proposing changes to three regulations[1]  governing construction and excavation activities around NEB-regulated pipelines, two of which have not been updated since...

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Buyer can’t expect compensation for pre-existing contamination

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has reaffirmed that buyers of contaminated property cannot expect compensation from their neighbour for the contamination that existed on the date of purchase. In...

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$25,000 fine for unreported waste oil spill

Huron District Contracting Limited was fined $25,000, plus a victim fine surcharge of $6,250, for spilling petroleum hydrocarbons from a waste oil tank.Huron District Contracting does marine...

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Is the 310 Waste garbage fire case over again?

In the fall of 2004, there was a terrible garbage fire at a grossly overloaded waste transfer site on Keele Street in Vaughan, Ontario. The fire burned for days, sending choking smoke through...

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Kawartha Lakes appeal heard by Court of Appeal

The City of Kawartha Lakes has appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal from a Ministry of the Environment Order, which imposed cleanup liability on the City for contamination it did not cause. The City...

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Innocent owner Kawartha Lakes loses at Court of Appeal

The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a decision of the Environmental Review Tribunal, refusing to allow an innocent landowner, City of Kawartha Lakes, to lead evidence about the actual polluters....

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Watch Castonguay flyrock appeal at Supreme Court of Canada

Interested in the Castonguay appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada? Everything is now online, except the decision. This includes the webcast (see below). Not many environmental cases reach the Supreme...

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Northern Gateway pipeline doomed by BC and aboriginal opposition?

For an interesting take on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, and the likely impact of the British Columbia government’s public rejection of the proposal, check out the excellent US environmental...

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Who pays when polluters can’t?

Who pays when polluters can’t? In theory, Canadians are pretty comfortable with the polluter pay principle, at least when it applies to other people. (We do not seem to feel the same way about carbon...

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