A coal mining company has been handed a $3.5-million penalty for a 2013 spill from its tailings pond that fouled tributaries feeding the Athabasca River in Alberta.
An estimated 670 million litres of waste water gushed out of a broken earth berm at the Obed Mountain mine near Hinton, Alta., on Oct. 31, 2013.
READ MORE: Alberta orders cleanup of coal slurry spill
The federal departments of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada say Prairie Mines & Royalty ULC (formerly known as Coal Valley Resources) pleaded guilty Friday in Hinton provincial court to two counts of violating the Fisheries Act.
READ MORE: ‘Major failure’ of coal mine pit releases waste water into Athabasca River
About $1.15 million of the penalty is to be put into a trust to be managed by the University of Alberta to create a fish habitat and recovery research fund. The Environmental Damages Fund will be getting $2,150,000.
READ MORE: Decision on charges in coal tailings spill in a few months: Alberta regulator
On the same day, the company pleaded guilty to one count under the provincial Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and was fined $925,000. The total penalty includes a fine of $192,000 and a creative sentencing order to both pay $363,000 to fund a dam safety research project related to coal mine water storage, and pay $370,000 for an indigenous youth environmental education project.
READ MORE: First Nation angry with province’s response to coal mine spill
Further information about the projects and the agreed statement of facts regarding the incident are available on the AER’s Compliance Dashboard.
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