An Ontario Court of Justice has ordered Canada National (CN) Railway Company to pay an $8-million fine after two fiery derailments in northeastern Ontario in 2015 dumped millions of litres of crude oil into the environment.
According a July 22 news release from Environment and Climate Change Canada, CN pleaded guilty to two charges under the federal Fisheries Act. The fine money will be directed to the federal Environmental Damages Fund to support projects that repair environmental damage or programs that support environmental awareness.
The two derailments in 2015 happened on Feb. 14 and March 7, when two CN freight trains derailed near Gladwick and Gogama, respectively.
From the Feb. 14 derailment, 1.06 million litres of crude oil was spilled, some of which entered a creek that flows into Upper Kasasway Lake.
Less than a month later, 2.6 million litres of crude oil spilled into nearby wetlands and the Makami River that flows into Minisinakwa Lake.
Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers attended both scenes as investigators and collected samples.
The investigation revealed that the cause of the two derailments occurred after a piece of railway track broke under the weight of the passing train. It was determined that CN failed to exercise due diligence in the maintaining the tracks.
Track was replaced by CN following both accidents in an area called the Ruel subdivision, situated between the communities of Capreol and Hornepayne, specifically where the derailments occurred.
To restore lost vegetation species native to the area, CN completed forest restoration activities with the assistance of the Mattagami First Nation, and created a fish spawning lagoon in the vicinity of the Gogama bridge.
According to the release, as a result of this conviction, CN will added to the Environmental Offenders Registry. The registry contains information on convictions of corporations registered for offences committed under certain federal environmental laws.
