Environmental Damages Fund

The contractor building the Site C hydroelectric dam in B.C. pleaded guilty to one charge of releasing contaminated water into the Peace River on the same day the megaproject hit a big milestone.

Environment and Climate Change Canada says Teck Metals Ltd., a subsidiary of Teck Resources Ltd., has been ordered to pay $2.2 million in federal and provincial fines for an effluent spill into the Columbia River.

After some employee training and a deposit of $30,000 into an environmental fund, charges have been dropped against an Ontario-based seafood company accused of illegally importing European eel meat.

The charge came after the release almost four years ago of about 2.8 million litres of process water, a byproduct of oil and gas production and typically high in salt content.

Syncrude has pleaded guilty and been fined more than $2.7 million in the deaths of 31 great blue herons at one of its oilsands mines north of Fort McMurray.