White Pass ‘horrified’ by dumping incident

The White Pass and Yukon Route railway has been ordered to pay $100,000 after dumping 24 rail cars’ worth of rocks and sediment into Bennett Lake in 2009.

The White Pass and Yukon Route railway has been ordered to pay $100,000 after dumping 24 rail cars’ worth of rocks and sediment into Bennett Lake in 2009.

In territorial court Wednesday afternoon, the company pleaded guilty to one count of depositing a deleterious subject into water frequented by fish under the Fisheries Act.

White Pass operates a passenger railway service between Carcross and Skagway, Alaska, a portion of which follows the eastern shoreline of Bennett Lake.

The area is subject to chronic erosion which can threaten the stability of the railbed, the court heard.

After some washouts along the track in 2007, the historic railway was in need of some repairs.

Officials with the territorial government and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) expressed concerns about possible damage those repairs were doing to fish habitat in the area.

In October 2008, the company submitted a cleanup plan which showed track repairs could be made without dumping harmful material into the lake.

The regulatory agencies asked for more information which was never received, and no approval was ever given for that plan.

About a year later, two fisheries inspectors conducting a marine parol of the east side of the lake found workers dumping 24 rail cars full of dirt, rock and sediment onto the lakeside and the water, at mile post 41.2 near Bennett City.

Bennett Lake straddles the Yukon-B.C. border, and is among the largest freshwater lakes in northern British Columbia, Judge Richard Thompson heard.

The lake supports populations of lake trout, whitefish, Arctic grayling, northern pike, chinook salmon, burbot, cisco and sculpin.

The earthen material was being dumped from White Pass railcars onto the riparian zone at the water’s edge and into Bennett Lake in an attempt to shore-up and stabilize the steeply sloping, eroded shoreline next to the rail line.

The material totalled approximately 440.4 cubic metres of fill. It included a significant amount of fine sediment (silt, clay and sand) as well as gravel and boulders, according to an agreed statement of facts read into court.

Tests done one metre from the deposit site showed suspended sediment concentration almost 100 times greater than what is permitted under Canadian guidelines.

“While the officers did not observe any dead fish or other indications of harm to the aquatic life in Bennett Lake, the suspended sediment was sufficient to cause direct, acute and chronic harmful effects to the fish and other organisms at different levels of biological production,” said prosecutor Noel Sinclair.

The fact that no harm was seen is not a reason to reduce the fine, he said.

This concentration of sediment can kill Arctic grayling “sac fry” over 24 hours.

As well, it may have impaired the development and survival of northern pike embryos and larvae and reduced prey capture by lake trout and Arctic grayling, according to the agreed statement of facts.

Also, the cloudiness created in the water by the sediment may have affected other aquatic organisms.

The $100,000 fine was recommended by both sides and approved by the judge.

Sinclair argued the hefty fine is warranted because the company knew about possible problems since October 2008 and because of the high volume of material dumped into the water.

For a first offence under the Fisheries Act, the maximum fine is $300,000.

This fine “sends a message to companies and contractors doing work in areas with fish. If you disregard the regulatory process, you are going to be subject to serious fines,” Sinclair said.

White Pass’ lawyer Paul Cassidy said the company was “horrified” by what happened, and that there was a “belief work could be done without harm to Bennett Lake.”

In his decision, Thompson said White Pass had a “heavy responsibility” because it was working so close to the lake.

Most of the fine — $99,000 — has been earmarked for DFO’s Whitehorse field office.

It will be used for projects specifically targeting improvements to fisheries and fish habitat around the Yukon, the judge ruled.

The department has already received a number of proposals for possible projects, Sinclair said.

Nearly a year after the dumping, DFO approved a work plan which would allow for infill work at specific areas along the shore of Lake Bennett, including the site near Bennett City.

The authorization requires White Pass to comply with mitigation measures designed to limit the introduction of sediments into the water during shore stabilization work, the court heard.

No details were provided as to what those measures were.

The company has until Oct. 12 to pay the fine.