On Friday, Husky Oil Operations Limited was fined $600,000 in the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan for contravening subsection 36(3) of the Fisheries Act.

The company pleaded guilty to one count of depositing a deleterious substance into water frequented by fish.

The charge is in relation to the 2018 release of approximately 2.8 million litres of process water which is a byproduct of oil and gas production and typically is high in salt content.

Officers with Environment and Climate Change Canada responded to a rupture at the Westhazel pipeline where they say the process water travelled approximately 450 metres over land and entered the Englishman River, near Turtleford, Saskatchewan, a fish-bearing tributary of the North Saskatchewan River.

Environmental enforcement officers inspected the area, gathering samples and observed dead vegetation along a 450-metre path from the point of release to the river. Laboratory analysis of the samples determined that the process water was harmful to fish.

As a result of the conviction, the company’s name will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry.