CABRI – The adage ‘you can’t hide a fire in the dark’ came to play recently, resulting in a municipality, a landowner and a contractor facing a total of $51,000 in fines.
Back on Feb. 14, conservation officers in Swift Current received information through the Turn In Poachers and Polluters line that Knutson Excavating was demolishing houses in the community of Cabri, then taking that material to land belonging to Lindsay Kelsey northeast of town and burning it at night.
“The officers investigated and found that five houses had been demolished (four belonging to the Town of Cabri and one owned by Kelsey), and the waste taken to a rural property owned by Kelsey and burned,” said a media release from Corrections, Policing and Public Safety.
An Environmental Protection Order was issued, effectively halting any further work and placing requirements to address the contamination at the burn site.
The matter came before Swift Current Provincial Court on Oct. 4, where the entities pleaded guilty to discarding waste, establishing a waste disposal ground and engaging in industrial activity all without required permits. The Town of Cabri and Knutson Excavating were each fined $21,000 and Kelsey was handed a $9,000 fine. Money from the fines will go to Saskatchewan’s Impacted Sites Fund - a source that supports municipal governments with cleaning abandoned and environmentally impacted sites. Knutson Excavating was also tasked with cleaning up the disposal site.
“Improper waste disposal can have serious environmental impacts on the air, soil and water, and can also pose threats to human health,” the release said. “Demolishing a house creates many different types of waste. Some of that waste should never be burned because of the dangerous pollutants they emit and the contamination they leave behind.”
For more information on reporting a wildlife, fisheries, forestry or environmental violation, contact the provincial TIPP line at 1 (800) 667-7561 or Saskatchewan.ca/tipp. Anyone reporting such actions can remain anonymous and may also be eligible for a cash reward.
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