SUDBURY, Ont. — A wire service reports that Environment Canada has charged Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. with two counts of violating the pollution prevention sections of the Federal Fisheries Act following a year-long investigation.
The charges relate to “an ongoing discharge of hydrocarbons” from CP’s property in Cartier, Ont., Environment Canada said in a news release.
Environment Canada alleges that the company permitted a deposit in an area and under conditions in which hydrocarbons could enter Division Lake via Pumphouse Creek on June 5, 2001. The government also alleges that CP failed to comply with a direction issued by Environment Canada on July 3, 2001, that required measures to be taken “to counteract, mitigate or remedy the adverse effects of the deposit.”
Subsection 36(3) of Canada’s Fisheries Act “prohibits the deposit of any deleterious substance in waters frequented by fish or in a place or under any conditions where the deleterious substance may enter water frequented by fish.”
Environment Canada said it considers hydrocarbons a deleterious substance, and the Division Lake is frequented by fish.
The government said depositing a deleterious substance is punishable, on a first offence, by a fine of up to C$300,000 or imprisonment for up to six months. It said failing to comply with a direction is punishable, on a first offence, by a fine of up to C$200,000.
A court date has been set for Aug. 28 in Sudbury, Ont., the government said.