A trucking company was fined $175,000 for an oil spill into Lemon Creek in the Slocan Valley near Nelson.
An estimated 35,000 litres of jet fuel was spilled into the creek on July 26, 2013.
The spill contaminated the waterway that is a tributary of the Slocan River and led to residential evacuations.
Executive Flight Centre Fuel Services Ltd, a Calgary-based trucking company, plead guilty to one count of a deleterious deposit into waters frequented by fish, under the Fisheries Act.
The spill also cost the trucking company approximately $5 million in clean-up costs.
The fuel-filled tanker truck was destined for helicopters fighting a forest fire in the area .
In July 2016, charges were laid against the fuel truck driver, Executive Flight Centre and the Province of British Columbia under the provincial Environmental Management Act and the federal Fisheries Act.
The majority of the fine – $165,000 – will be directed to the Environmental Damages Fund to be used for fish habitat conservation efforts in the Slocan Valley.
The maximum fine at the time of the offence was $300,000.
The fuel truck driver, Danny Lasante, was subsequently convicted of one count of introducing waste into environment causing pollution, contrary to section 6(4) under the Environmental Management Act and fined $20,000.
Half of the fine is directed to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, and due in 2021.
The multi-jurisdictional investigation into the spill included the B.C. Conservation Officer Service and Environment and Climate Change Canada.
The Province of BC, however, was acquitted of all charges related to the spill.
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