Wal-Mart, TIP Fleet Services fined for Cobourg diesel spill

TIP Fleet Services Canada and Wal-Mart Canada have been fined a collective $155,000 for a September 2020 diesel spill down a loading dock drain at a Wal-Mart Supercentre in Cobourg, Ont.

About 200 to 300 liters of fuel reached a downstream storm water management pond, while the remediation of the pond and a drainage channel involved removing 113,000 liters of diesel-impacted surface water and 77 tonnes of soil, the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks says.

TIP Fleet Service Canada was convicted of one violation under the Environmental Protection Act and fined $35,000 plus a $8,750 fine surcharge. Wal-Mart Canada was fined $120,000 and a $30,000 surcharge, plus a $305 restitution to Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue, for two violations.

Both were penalized for failing to “notify the ministry forthwith of the spill”.

Wal-Mart didn’t notify the ministry about the spill because it believed TIP Fleet had done so, but TIP Fleet didn’t contact the Spills Action Centre until 4:44 pm on Sept. 16., 2020 – about six hours after its responding technician reported the issue internally, the ministry says.

Wal-Mart staff had called TIP Fleet at 8:42 am. The spill itself had begun shortly after midnight.

Once the ministry notified the Town of Cobourg, the spill had entered the storm sewer drain and affected the downstream stormwater management pond.

TIP Fleet retained a company to clean up the spill, and that work began the following morning. Remediation of the drainage channel and pond were completed Oct. 2.