February 19, 2002

Eco/Log Week

City of Moncton, officials charged over toxic landfill leachate discharge

MONCTON, NB-Environment Canada’s Atlantic region office has charged the City of Moncton and its commissioner of public works, along with Gemtec, a consulting engineering firm, and one of its employees, in connection with toxic leachate allegedly being discharged from a decommissioned municipal landfill. The charges, under the federal Fisheries Act, allege that leachate samples from the city-owned site are acutely lethal to fish and that the leachate is entering Jonathan Creek, a tributary of the Petitcodiac River. The charges further allege that the landfill closure plan chosen by the city was not in compliance with the Fisheries Act. The parties charged will appear in provincial court in Moncton April 3. More information is available from David Agget of Environment Canada’s Atlantic region office, 902/426-1925.