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Owners of former Goodyear site facing charges, jail time for environmental crime

Highly toxic substance not removed from property despite order from Environment Canada
2018-24-08-FORMERGOODYEAR-EE
The property at 101 Mountain Road used to be a Goodyear plant. Erika Engel/CollingwoodToday

*Update: A judge overturned the jail time and reduced the fines set in an appeal case. The decision was released May 12, 2020.

The director of a Collingwood corporation is facing jail time for failing to remove a highly toxic substance from a Mountain Road property after receiving an official order from Environment Canada.

Collingwood Prime Realty Holdings Corp. and its director Issa (Chris) El-Hinn were sentenced in Ontario court earlier this week with a combined penalty of $420,000 and 45 days jail time for El-Hinn to be served on the weekend.

The charges stem from old electrical transformers and capacitors in use on the former Goodyear property at 101 Mountain Rd., which is now owned by Collingwood Prime Realty. The transformers contain high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), which has been prohibited for use in Canada since the 1980s.

David Rennie is operations manager of Environmental Enforcement for Environment and Climate Change Canada. He said PCB is a highly toxic substance to human life, animal life and the environment, and it is toxic in very small doses. It has been known to cause cancer in animals and is suspected of causing cancer in humans. An expert witness in the case against Collingwood Prime Realty suggested just a drop could cause significant damage and poses a threat to humans. If a transformer containing PCB catches fire, the burning PCB creates another toxic substance known to cause birth defects and impair cognitive function.

“If there was a fire… it could have been disastrous,” said Rennie. “If it leaked and got down to ground water it could have poisoned the town’s water easily.”

He said nothing was leaking on the site, and the transformers and capacitors have been safely removed and disposed of now.

Rennie guessed the transformers could have been manufactured in the 1960s and were located outside exposed to the elements.

Earlier this year, Collingwood Fire Department successfully prosecuted Collingwood Prime Realty Holdings Corp and its owner El-Hinn for multiple Fire Code violations at the property at 101 Mountain Rd.

Rennie said Environment Canada first got involved in November 2013 when an inspecting officer issued a written notice to Collingwood Prime Realty to have two transformers and two capacitors removed and safely disposed of by a licensed company and to replace them with compliant transformers.

Today, transformers must be filled with mineral oil, PCBs are not permitted in new transformers.

“It costs more than $110,000 to safely remove and dispose of PCB-containing materials,” said Rennie.

That’s added to the cost of replacement. It takes approximately six months to order new transformers.

An Environment Canada officer returned to the site in September 2014 to find the previous written notice was ignored and the PCB material was still on site.

Rennie said at that time, the officer issued an Environmental Protection Compliance Order to Collingwood Prime Realty and its director El-Hinn.

In April of 2015, Environment Canada determined the order was not followed.

“At the end of the day, the company as well as the director completely ignored and refused to follow the order that the officer had written up,” said Rennie.

Environment and Climate Change Canada started an investigation. Charges were laid March 6, 2016 and the first day of what was supposed to be a two-week trial was Sept. 18, 2017.

At that time Collingwood Prime Realty issued a guilty plea, according to Rennie. Sentencing took place Aug. 21.

Collingwood Prime Realty received charges totalling $200,000 to be paid over 120 days, including a $140,000 charge for failing to comply with the Environmental Protection Compliance Order.

El-Hinn was charged $220,000 to be paid over a year and 45 days of jail time to be served on weekends. His charges also include $140,000 for failing to comply with the order.

According to Rennie, El-Hinn has appealed to the Superior Court.

Funds collected via the charges will be directed to the Environmental Damages Fund, according to an email from Environment and Climate Change Canada.


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Erika Engel

About the Author: Erika Engel

Erika regularly covers all things news in Collingwood as a reporter and editor. She has 15 years of experience as a local journalist
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