Town of Cabri, contractor and landowner fined for environmental violations

The southwestern Saskatchewan town of Cabri, a contractor and a landowner were fined recently for violations of the province’s environmental and waste management laws.

In February, conservation officers got a tip that a contractor — Knutson Excavating — was hauling the refuse from homes demolished in Cabri to a nearby plot of land owned by Lindsey Kelsey, where the waste was burned in violation of the environmental regulations.

An Environmental Protection Order stopped the work and after an investigation, all three parties were charged “for discarding waste, establishing a waste disposal ground and engaging in industrial activity, all without the required permits.”

The town, contractor and landowner each pleaded guilty to a number of offences at a court date in early October. As a result, the Town of Cabri and Knutson Excavation were each fined $21,000, and Kelsey was fined $9,000.

“The money from the fines will go to the province’s Impacted Sites Fund, which provides support to municipal governments to clean up abandoned, environmentally impacted sites,” Saskatchewan’s Environment Ministry said in a statement. “Knutson Excavating also cleaned up the disposal site.”

Improper waste disposal can affect air, soil and water, the ministry noted, and certain types of waste should never be burned because of the dangerous pollution emitted and the contamination left behind.

Anyone who suspects environmental violations was urged to contact the provincial government through the SaskTip program.

“You can remain anonymous and may be eligible for cash rewards from the SaskTip Reward Program,” the ministry said.