Owner of former Smurfit-Stone mill site to be sentenced in July
Bathurst Redevelopment Inc. didn't mount defence to charge of failing to clean up property
The owner of the former Smurfit-Stone mill site in Bathurst will be sentenced on July 21 for failing to clean up the property.
The maximum fine for a company on the charge under the Clean Environment Act is $1 million.
However, as Bathurst Redevelopment Inc. is insolvent, any fine is largely symbolic, the Crown prosecutor noted at a sentencing hearing on Friday.
Bathurst Redevelopment Inc. was found guilty of the charge last month in a provincial court trial. The guilty finding came in an ex parte trial that did not require the defendant to be present after the company did not show up for its previous court appearances.
The province of New Brunswick hasn't had any communication with the owners of the site in 422 days, the hearing was told.
Smurfit-Stone closed its Bathurst mill in 2005 and decommissioning activities began in 2008.
In 2010, the site was sold to Bathurst Redevelopment Inc., which is a Canadian subsidiary of Illinois-based Green Investment Group.
The new owners promised a "green cleanup" at the site near the heart of the city. However, only valuable metals and equipment were removed. What remains on the site has been described as an "eyesore."
In April 2015, the company was issued a cleanup order under the Clean Environment Act, but that expired 120 days later without the company taking any action.
Almost $1 million in back taxes is owing on the property.