Chris Clegg
South Peace News
A guilty plea to a violation under the Fisheries Act has netted Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. a $1 million fine.
Mercer pleaded no contest after allegedly discharging over 30 million litres of toxic effluent into the Peace River April 14, 2021, the federal governed said in a news release Oct. 11.
The effluent is potentially harmful to all fish that call the river its home.
Global News reported the effluent was “acutely lethal” to fish.
Meanwhile, CBC News interviewed Lorne Fitch, as professional biologist and retired provincial Fish and Wildlife biologist.
“This is a huge discharge. Even though the Peace River is a relatively large river, my suspicion is that this would be acutely toxic to fish and it would cause a fish kill downstream for a significant distance.”
On Sept. 4 when the guilty plea was entered, court heard the incident occurred due to insufficient capacity in the mill’s spill pond, which was meant to handle excess wastewater during maintenance shutdowns. Since the incident nearly three years ago, Mercer has increased the spill pond’s capacity and upgraded its pumping system in efforts to ensure the incident never occurs again, says the federal government.
A spill pond is created as a place to store the wastewater until it can be treated and released safely into the environment.
The mill is about 30 km north of the town Peace River. No other community exists on the river until Fort Vermilion.
Specifically, Mercer pleaded guilty to a single count of violating the Fisheries Act, following an investigation by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Money from the fine will be forwarded to the federal government’s environmental damages fund.
The conviction also means Mercer is added to the Environmental Offenders Registry, Global News reports.