The car rental company Enterprise has just been sentenced to a heavy fine of 1 million dollars for a major gasoline spill in a stream in Dorval.
On the night of January 4 to 5, 2021, a citizen who was near Bouchard Creek noticed a strong smell of gasoline. The firefighters immediately intervened and found traces of hydrocarbons in a watercourse where fish live.
It was only two days later that the authorities were able to trace the cause of this environmental emergency.
On January 4, a gasoline delivery man went to the car rental company Enterprise, on the site of the Montreal airport.
He tried to pour 20,000 liters into a tank that was too small, i.e. a 5,000-litre tank. Everything obviously overflowed, and the surplus ended up in the storm sewer system, finally ending up in the Bouchard stream.
Enterprise never reported the incident.
“It will have taken a citizen who smelled gasoline so that Environment Canada and the firefighters can go back to the source,” lamented in Court the public prosecutor of Canada, Mr.e Donald Barnabas.
The car rental company appeared for the first time at the Montreal courthouse yesterday. She immediately admitted her guilt.
Judge Josée de Carufel sentenced her to a fine of $1 million, as proposed by the parties. This is an amount 10 times higher than the minimum fine, underlined Me Barnabas.
“It is an important company, with great income, the fine must be dissuasive, in order to prevent such an event from happening once more. Not only at Enterprise, but also another company that handles harmful substances like gasoline,” said the prosecutor.
The latter noted that as soon as it was made aware of the spill, the company did not attempt to back out.
In particular, she was able to recover a large quantity of gasoline from the stream and made changes in the identification of tanks and in the strategies for detecting leaks. An environmental emergency plan has also since been developed.
Enterprise has two months to pay the full fine.
Payments will be directed to the Environmental Damages Fund as required by law.
