Company fined $1 million for depositing toxic wastewater into the Peace River

A company operating a pulp mill near the northern Alberta town of Peace River has been ordered to pay a $1-million fine after pleading guilty to violating federal environmental legislation.

According to a news release from the federal government, Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd., also known as Mercer Peace River, received the penalty on Friday at the Alberta Court of Justice.

The company pleaded guilty on Sept. 4 to one count of violating the Fisheries Act, following an investigation by Environment and Climate Change Canada. 

Enforcement officers determined that on April 14, 2021, the company had deposited or permitted the deposit of more than 30 million litres of effluent — wastewater that was toxic to fish — from its pulp mill into the Peace River.

The company's pulp mill is 26 kilometres northeast of the town of Peace River.

"This is a huge discharge," said Lorne Fitch, a professional biologist and a retired provincial fish and wildlife biologist.

"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."

He said governments should be scrutinizing projects' designs and regularly monitoring them to identify problems.

Spill pond lacked capacity 

The release said the pulp mill's wastewater treatment system has a spill pond meant to capture and store wastewater from spills or unusual operating conditions. That wastewater is then reintroduced to the treatment system at a controlled rate. 

The federal government's investigation determined that a maintenance shutdown of the pulp mill generated waste materials from process vessels and wastewater from cleaning operations. They were directed into the spill pond. 

Because the company had not maintained enough capacity in the spill pond to capture the additional wastewater, the spill pond didn't work as it was supposed to.

"Mercer Peace River has since taken steps to increase the capacity of the spill pond by removing sludge and upgrading the associated pumping system," the news release said.

The company has not yet responded to a request for comment from CBC News. 

According to the company's website, the pulp mill started running in 1990 and produces softwood and hardwood pulp.

The news release said the fine will go into the government's environmental damages fund, which is used to repair environmental damage or benefit the environment.