MIDNIGHT DUMPER IN CONESTOGA FINED $40,000

Last Saturday's Waterloo Region Record carried this pollution story titled "$40,00 in fines to company, director for toxic waste dumping". This of course refers to the dumping of 20 barrels of oily water, acids, waste oils and PCBs on a private property near Conestogo in May 2015.

The guilty party included a now deceased Donald Hector who did the deed (illegal disposal) after charging Ronald Soha to remove the drums for $2,500. This price was substantially lower than the $8,000 quoted by Safety-Kleen for removal and disposal. Justice of the Peace Michael Cuthbertson fined Mr. Soha $15,000 and the corporation he was a director of $25,000. At first blush I thought this was really on the low end of fines considering the toxic barrels were intentionally dumped on private property with no consideration of either the environment or the private property owner. Now it does turn out that the corporation involved, formerly Madison Steel is out of business and the principal director is 97 years old. I assume that those were mitigating circumstances in regards to the fine imposed.

The PCB angle intrigued me. Yes PCBs certainly have been found in oily waters and waste oils before and indeed Safety-Kleen at one time had a problem with incoming shipments of waste oils contaminated with PCBs. I wonder if the Ontario M.O.E. followed up on the source of these PCBs or not. There could be more to this if somewhere along the line PCBs were intentionally added to the mix of hazardous wastes being disposed.