Owner of mill seized by B.C. government had money laundering conviction

The owner of a Northern B.C pulp mill placed under the supervision of the B.C. government to avoid a chemical spill was previously convicted of money laundering, a search of past media reports revealed.

The B.C. government seized the Worthington Properties mill after Environment Minister Barry Penner signed an order under Section 87 of the Environmental Management Act (EMA) declaring an environmental emergency at the site on Sunday.

Officials said Worthington hadn't paid its bills or wages, and the workers charged with keeping the idle mill safe were threatening to walk out.

That raised concerns that pipes and tanks full of toxic chemicals, including chlorine dioxide and caustic soda, might freeze and crack if the mill was shutdown in the –30 C temperatures, potentially releasing the chemicals into the environment.  

Penner authorized ministry officials to order mill employees to maintain the site for the next 15 days in order to lessen or prevent the hazards associated with pipes and other equipment freezing.

It is not yet clear what will happen to the mill after that time.

The president and CEO of Worthington Properties, Dan White, was convicted in 1998 of trying to launder more than a $1 million.

At the time, the Crown said the money was obtained from an illegal liquor sales scheme in B.C. White served a six-month conditional sentence at his home in Edmonton.

White's past conviction was news to B.C.'s Forest Minister Pat Bell, who just last year praised the sale of the mill to Worthington by the financially troubled company Pope and Tabot as "good news."

"That information was not provided to us," Bell told the CBC on Tuesday. "If the information you've provided is accurate, there is significant reason for concern."

Still, Bell maintains he's more concerned with the dangers posed by the chemicals inside Worthington's idled mill than White's past record.