{"id":188400,"date":"2018-11-05T21:28:07","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T02:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=188400"},"modified":"2018-11-05T21:28:07","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T02:28:07","slug":"irving-pulp-paper-new-brunswick-fined-3-5-million-dumping-effluent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/11\/05\/irving-pulp-paper-new-brunswick-fined-3-5-million-dumping-effluent\/","title":{"rendered":"Irving Pulp and Paper in New Brunswick fined $3.5 million for dumping effluent"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: Saint John River at Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada (Photo By Treeman – Own work, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SAINT JOHN, N.B. \u2014 Irving Pulp and Paper Ltd. has been hit with one of largest penalties ever imposed in Canada for an environmental violation.<\/p>\n

The company, based in Saint John, N.B., was fined $3.5 million Monday for dumping improperly treated effluent into the Saint John River over a two-year period.<\/p>\n

The firm has also been added to the Environmental Offenders Registry, which includes information on convictions of corporations under federal environmental laws, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 9, the company pleaded guilty in Saint John provincial court to three charges under the pollution prevention provisions of the federal Fisheries Act.<\/p>\n

“The charges stem from several incidents that occurred between June 2014 and August 2016, when improperly treated and deleterious effluent was released … into the Saint John River,” the federal department said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In a plea deal struck with the Crown, the company admitted its mill near the Reversing Falls tourist attraction in Saint John failed to meet standards under the federal Fisheries Act.<\/p>\n

The company failed a test that requires 50 per cent or more of tested rainbow trout to survive 96 hours in 100 per cent effluent.<\/p>\n

However, the company said the Crown and federal authorities acknowledged the river was not harmed by the discharges, and no fish were killed.<\/p>\n

“Safeguarding the environment has been and continues to be our top priority,” company vice-president Mark Mosher said when the company pleaded guilty on Oct. 9. “We respect the decision of the court and will ensure the mill meets the stringent guidelines.”<\/p>\n

Irving Pulp and Paper has also agreed to build a new, multimillion-dollar effluent treatment facility over the next five years.<\/p>\n

The mill, which employs 375 people, currently uses a so-called reverse osmosis system to meet environmental regulations. The company has said it invested heavily in this system because the mill’s neighbours were opposed to an effluent treatment facility.<\/p>\n

The company also confirmed Monday it will provide $1.16 million to the University of New Brunswick, where the Canadian Rivers Institute will use the money to conduct research related to the conservation of Atlantic salmon.<\/p>\n

The head of the institute, Allen Curry, said his group will now be able to buy more equipment and hire more students and technical staff.<\/p>\n

“We’re attracting students from all over the world,” he said in a statement, adding that he expects to double the number of students working at the institute.<\/p>\n

The company had originally planned to give money to a non-profit conservation group known as the Collaboration for Atlantic Salmon Tomorrow (CAST).<\/p>\n

Although there are no commercial ties between CAST and Irving Pulp and Paper, the co-CEO of parent company J.D. Irving Ltd., Jim Irving, is one of CAST’s three directors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAINT JOHN, N.B. \u2014 Irving Pulp and Paper Ltd. has been hit with one of largest penalties ever imposed in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":188401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-michael-macdonald","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}