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Canada: The Labatt Brewing Co. was fined C$50,000 on March 1, 2004 after pleading guilty to discharging a lubricant into the Canadian river, London's Thames River, The London Free Press posted. In August 2002, an investigation discovered that lubricant being unloaded from a delivery truck at Labatt’s brewery in London, Ontario had spilled into a storm sewer, which empties into the nearby Thames River. Labatt also was charged a victim surcharge of 25 % for a discharge on Aug. 16, 2002, which killed hundreds, perhaps thousands of fish from Horton Street to more than 1.5 kilometres downstream.

A second charge, that Labatt failed to notify authorities, was withdrawn by Ontario's Environment Ministry. The lubricant, an industrial soap, had been used on conveyer belts.

A plant employee mistakenly used an air pump to move the lubricant from a truck to a storage tank, creating foam that spilled onto the floor. On the floor, the material went down a drain Labatt wrongly assumed was connected to a sanitary sewer line heading to a treatment plant. As a result, Labatt didn't contact authorities. Labatt learned of the discharge after being contacted by the Environment Ministry.

Since then, the brewer has spent C$165,000 to audit its drains and reroute the problematic drain and two others to a sanitary sewer line.

Labatt also no longer uses that lubricant.


02 March, 2004