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Quebec mill fined $55,000 for releasing untreated water into river

The operator of the Stadacona pulp and paper mill in Quebec, Que., pleaded guilty to having released one million litres of untreated process water into the Saint-Charles River, in Quebec, and of having used a non-standard sampling method. The…

The operator of the Stadacona pulp and paper mill in Quebec, Que., pleaded guilty to having released one million litres of untreated process water into the Saint-Charles River, in Quebec, and of having used a non-standard sampling method. The incidents occurred in December 2007, and violate the requirements of the Fisheries Act and the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations.

The penalty imposed on Stadacona General Partner Inc. is a payment of $49,500 to the Environmental Damages Fund to promote fish protection and the sound management and monitoring of fisheries and fish habitat. The court also imposed a $5,500 fine.

The Environment Canada investigation, completed in 2009, showed that a breakdown and poor functioning of the pumping station equipment and lack of maintenance of the equipment caused the release of harmful substances. Since then, the company has made a number of modifications to the facilities to prevent such an event from recurring.

The Stadacona mill has a thermomechanical pulp mill and deinking capacity. It produces newsprint, directory paper and linerboard. It is owned by White Birch Paper, currently undergoing restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.