Dive summary:
- McColman & Sons Demolition Ltd., an Alberta, Canada-based demolition company has been charged with illegal dumping which damaged local wetlands in rural Alberta.
- While McColman & Sons pled guilty to both knowingly operating a landfill without registration, and altering a wetland without an approval, it was a difficult case due to contradictory laws.
- Alberta Environment was in the middle of legislative issues and never sent proper notification concerning the new licensing to McColman & Sons Demolition Ltd., so the company was still operating under its original 1991 license, which had of course expired.
From the article:
The mix-up proved to be a mitigating factor for the Alberta court when it weighed possible penalties.
“The company’s initial position, that the permit under the Public Health Act was still in effect, has some merit,” says the Alberta court’s Agreed Statement of Facts.
The Agreed Statement of Facts suggests that, financially, McColman & Sons Demolition Ltd. had a competitive advantage in its industry because of the unauthorized onsite landfill. Updating to the new licensing scheme meant costly compliance and engineering costs, although the licence itself cost only a few hundred dollars. ...
