After exporting waste oil without a permit to the United States for the last few years, Regens Disposal Ltd. in Estevan has been sentenced.
In Estevan provincial court on Monday, Gene Baniulis, the owner of Regens Disposal answered to the charges, pleading guilty to each count. The charges stemmed from 13 shipments south of the border made between Oct. 15, 2008 and Sept. 7, 2009. Baniulis told Judge Jeffrey Kalmakoff the company hasn't made any international shipments since the investigation was made by Environment Canada.
Federal prosecutor Steven Dribnenki noted the maximum penalty for these crimes is a $300,000 fine for a summary conviction.
He noted he was seeking a $4,000 fine to cover all the charges as well as another $5,000 to be paid to the Environmental Damages Fund.
Baniulis told the court the company had been operating for 17 years without a permit, following any necessary provincial rules. The federal permit is a recent requirement, coming into necessity in 2007.
Regens applied for and received a permit allowing them to transport the hazardous material from Aug. 21, 2007 to Aug. 17, 2008.
Baniulis told Kalmakoff that, "In our organization (the permit) definitely slipped through the cracks, and we did not reapply for a permit. There was no reason for us not to reapply. It was just a matter of paperwork that we neglected to do."
Baniulis said his concern was the size of the penalty.
Kalmakoff noted, "One of the things that sticks out with this type of offence is the maximum fine of $300,000. That is a very significant penalty. To me that's a very clear signal from Parliament that this type of thing has to be taken seriously."
He also took into account the company, and Baniulis had been co-operative and offered a guilty plea, taking responsibility for what he called an "oversight" on the company's part.
Kalmakoff accepted the prosecutor's suggested sentence and Regens Disposal was ordered to pay a total of $9,000 in fines.
In other court proceedings, on March 10 Kalmakoff ruled against the defence's argument of necessity in a drinking and driving case.
Tesfaye Endalk was found guilty of impaired driving in Estevan provincial court on March 10, after Kalmakoff found parts of Endalk's testimony on the events to be "far-fetched and contrived."
Endalk was charged on Nov. 29, 2009, when he lost control of his vehicle and ended up in the ditch. Endalk began drinking while he was stuck in the ditch. Sitting in the driver's seat, he had the car running and the heater on to keep warm. His lawyer, said this was a defence of necessity, as he wasn't driving the vehicle but simply staying warm on a cold night.
A truck driver testified to seeing Endalk engage the transmission and attempt to reverse out of the ditch but to no avail.
When the truck driver offered his assistance, Endalk waved him away. Kalmakoff ruled that Endalk didn't exercise all his options in order to get out of the ditch, so he dismissed the defence of necessity.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 30.
In another impaired driving matter, the defence in Tyler Rumpel's case, last before the court on Feb. 10, applied for a Stinchcombe application under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, requesting the Crown be held financially responsible for a lack of disclosure. Kalmakoff ruled there was no breach on the Crown's part, because the disclosure was either not relevant to the case or didn't exist.
Also, Estevan resident Justin Garrow was denied bail on March 10 and will remain in custody. He is charged with breaking and entering, uttering death threats and assault.
The particulars of his show-cause hearing are protected under a publication ban until the matters are settled with a trial.
