VICTORIA -- The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission says it has fined Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. $920 for four violations of the provincial Water Sustainability Act related to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
The commission says it issued tickets late last week for one violation related to non-compliance in the use of fish spawning deterrents and three related to non-compliance In water volume reporting – each of which carries a $230 fine.
In an email, Trans Mountain's media relations department confirms it received the violation tickets and is currently reviewing them.
It says the charges are related to its installation last fall of deterrents through its fisheries protection program to discourage fish from spawning in stream areas that would be affected by construction, a method it says has been approved by the National Energy Board.
However, it says the NEB determined the deterrents were a construction activity that occurred when construction wasn't authorized and, as a result, activity was halted and the installations were removed.
It says the water withdrawal charges are for not reporting zero usage of water after it didn't withdraw water as it was permitted to do.
