PIET PEETERS FINED $32,000 FOR VIOLATING THE ONTARIO WATER RESOURCES ACT

[Spiel]

January 31, 2008

 

PIET PEETERS FINED $32,000 FOR VIOLATING THE ONTARIO WATER RESOURCES ACT

 

 

GODERICH — Piet Peeters has been fined $32,000, plus a victim fine surcharge, after pleading guilty to violating the Ontario Water Resources Act.

 

The Court heard that Mr. Peeters operated a hog operation. The two hog barns were connected by a pipe to an outdoor manure storage pit. The pipe became plugged up, preventing the flow of manure into the pit. On the night of July 10th, 2006 Mr. Peeters transferred three portable tanker loads of manure from the barns to the outdoor storage pit. During the transfer of the first load, there was a spill of manure. As a result, some of the manure ended up outside the pit, and flowed downhill into a soybean field. Due to heavy rainfall two days later, the manure entered some of the field tiles draining the field and from there entered a nearby municipal drain which flows into the Pergel Gully and empties into Lake Huron. Several hundred fish were observed to be in distress or dead due to the contamination, and several beaches in the area were posted as unsafe for bathing.

 

Mr. Peeters was charged following an investigation by the Ministry of the Environment’s Investigations and Enforcement Branch.

 

Mr. Peeters pled guilty to one count of violating section 30(1) of the Ontario Water Resources Act, by discharging or causing the discharge of a material that may impair the quality of the water of any waters. Mr. Peeters was fined $32,000, plus a victim fine surcharge, and given 12 months to pay.

 

Justice of the Peace Robert Gay heard the case in the Ontario Court of Justice in Goderich, Ontario, and imposed sentence on January 23, 2008.