Wanted to reach out to explain about compliance action and how the department operates. Regarding fines: There is no mechanism in the act to levy fines directly to a company or person. There are summary offense tickets or long-form prosecutions. The courts determine the penalty, if the person/company is found guilty. The suggestion by posters here and in some coverage of fining the company per day its not compliant simply isnt how the Environment Act works. The Environment Acts priority for inspectors is to bring those who are not meeting the Act and regulations into compliance with the Act. This can be achieved through education, cooperation, directives, ministerial orders, and then the more punitive end would contain summary offense tickets and long-form prosecutions. If the company is working toward complying with a term/condition or a directive, NSE would not likely prosecute them. For example, the cost of complying with the directive to replace the precipitator is about $21 million. Thats more than any fine or penalty the courts would likely impose. It is not effective or a good use of staff time/resources to take the company to court if progress is being made on reaching compliance. Usually court action is reserved for situations where a polluter refuses to take responsibility and correct the problem. Hopefully this helps with understanding the actions NSE is taking with Northern Pulp. Though a series of directives, they were required to carry out a number of studies and obtain information on how to address particulate matter emissions. Work continues on the latest directive, issued in March 2013. They have completed every other directive issued.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 19:54:42 +0000
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