CN Rail fined $125,000 for 2015 North Saskatchewan River diesel spill

A local environmental group will receive the bulk of a $125,000 penalty levied against Canadian National Railway (CN) after the company pleaded guilty Friday to environmental charges related to diesel leaking into the North Saskatchewan River.

CN entered guilty pleas to charges laid under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act for releasing a substance that may cause an adverse effect on the environment and for failing to remediate, manage, remove or dispose of the substance.

Alberta Environment announced the charges in November 2016 after an investigation into an unknown amount of diesel being released into a section of the river that runs through the city on April 9, 2015.

The spill originated at the CN Bissell yard near 160 Street at a train fuelling station, according to an agreed statement of facts read to the court by Crown prosecutor Craig Kallal.

A mechanical malfunction in a tank that collects spills of diesel and mixes it with water, followed by a misunderstanding among CN employees about who was to be monitoring the machine, meant some of the diesel-water mixture made its way through the city’s drainage system and into the river, extending downstream from the outfall near the Quesnell Bridge.

A number of residents called authorities to report an oily sheen that stretched about two kilometres along the water’s surface.

Kallal noted that provincial investigators weren’t able to determine how much diesel entered the river, but said the discharge “impaired the quality of the water” by “rendering a portion of it unfit for consumption by humans or animals for a short but unknown period.”

CN reported the discharge to Alberta Environment a few months later.

Defence lawyer Nicholas Hughes told court CN has since upgraded the system, and the company is pleased the penalty has the “feel-good benefit” of contributing to an environmental cause.

The incident was also investigated by federal environmental authorities, who laid 29 charges against CN in connection to the spill. That case is expected to be heard in court in mid-June.

Provincial court Judge Michelle Doyle accepted a joint submission on sentencing and ordered CN to pay $125,000: a $7,500 fine for each of the convictions, plus $110,000 that will be given to the Edmonton & Area Land Trust through a creative sentencing order.

The land trust’s executive director, Pamela Wight, said her organization has numerous projects where the money could be applied that meet the conditions of the funding.

“This is extraordinary for us,” Wight said.

The land trust currently holds nine properties within 50 kilometres of Edmonton, and is in the process of acquiring more.