BC MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT LANDS AND PARKS: Ewos Canada Ltd charged following spill

FEB 12, 1999, M2 Communications - SURREY -- Ewos Canada Ltd has been charged with three offences under the provincial Waste Management Act and one offence under the federal Fisheries Act following a spill to a Surrey creek the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks announced today.

Ewos Canada Ltd is charged under the Waste Management Act with:

* introducing a business waste to the environment;

* introducing waste in such a manner as to cause pollution; and

* failing to report a spill.

Under the Fisheries Act the company is charged with depositing a substance deleterious to fish.

The charges follow an investigation by conservation officers into a July 1998 spill of approximately 200 kilograms of fish oil into a fish bearing tributary of Bear Creek.

In a similar case in Dec. 1995, Ewos Canada Ltd pled guilty to a charge of introducing a business waste to the environment and was fined $10,000. The maximum penalty for these new charges under the Waste Management Act is $1 million and $300,000 under the Fisheries Act.

The first appearance is scheduled for Mar. 3 in Surrey Provincial Court.

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(C)1994-99 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTDCONTACT: Christine Turlet,
Conservation Officer,
Surrey
Tel: +1 604 582 5256
Rick Grindrod, Supervisor Industrial Investigations,
Surrey
Tel: +1 604 582 5259
Betsy Terpsma, Regional Communications Coordinator,
Lower Mainland Region, Surrey
Tel: +1 604 582 5306

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