The Alberta government announced Friday it had charged the Town of Whitecourt, the operators of the Whitecourt Regional Solid Waste Management Authority and Woodlands County with several environmental offences.
“The Town of Whitecourt has been charged with 18 counts and the county has been charged with 12 counts under the (Environmental Protection and Enhancement) Act for contravening terms or conditions of their approval and for taking actions at the landfill that required amendments to their approval,” Alberta Environment and Parks said in a news release. “The charges relate to events that occurred between Sept. 12 and Nov. 28, 2016.”
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In a court document, the government alleges that the Town of Whitecourt and the operators of the Whitecourt Regional Solid Waste Management Authority broke a number of rules, including one that stipulates they should “not release any substances from the runoff control system to the surrounding watershed except as authorized.”
Over the same time frame, the government also accused the town and waste management operator of not monitoring the runoff control system as it should and breaking a rule that states “releases from the runoff control system shall comply with the limits for the parameters specified.”
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The charges against the county accuse it of also releasing substances without authorization from the runoff control system to the surrounding watershed, among other things.
An initial court date in the case has been set for Oct. 23 in Whitecourt.
You can view the sworn information in relation to this case below.