Catalyst Crofton has been fined $25,500 for releasing wastewater, also known as effluent, into their local ecosystem.
The fine was levied in a January 9th decision, after they were deemed to have been in contravention of a permit issued through the Environmental Management Act from the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.
The paper and pulp mill was determined to have done so in two incidents in the summer of 2021.
In the first incident, on July 23, they were determined to have discharged up to a million litres of effluent from their bleach tank along with stormwater and seawater into the marine environment. It was because of a failed expansion joint. The ministry deemed Catalyst had not done preventative maintenance or regularly inspected the joint which lead to the failure.
The second incident, on August 7, put 6 thousand litres of effluent into the environment because of a pump failure.
There were a couple of different options for the amount of the fine, one up to $240,000 and the other up to $40,000 but the ministry opted for the smaller option because this was Catalyst’s first penalty and their efforts to minimize the two situations once they were underway.
The ministry’s Director of the Environmental Management Act, Jason Bourgeois says, “Since this is the first administrative penalty for Catalyst regarding the Permit, I have decided to exercise discretion in favour of Catalyst and consolidate all six failures to comply into one penalty, with a maximum of $40,000.
“However, I note that if Catalyst fails to comply with the Permit in the future, a subsequent statutory decision maker could review the relevant facts and this Determination and determine that separate penalties for separate failures to comply with the Permit are necessary to deter non-compliance.”
