CANADA (From news reports) -- The B.C. government has hit a Kootenay pulp and paper mill with a third wave of environmental penalties this year following a series of permit violations.

In an Oct. 15 decision released to the public this week, director of the Environmental Management Act Jennifer Mayberry penalized Domtar Inc.'s Skookumchuck mill a combined $62,950 for failing to comply with air pollution limits, monitor the release of contaminants and maintain critical equipment.

"Skookumchuck was aware of the requirements and had some degree of control," she wrote.

The latest penalties span 2022-24, and come three months after the mill was penalized more than $56,000 for two rounds of violations after provincial inspectors found it had discharged acutely toxic effluent into the Kootenay River and failed to properly maintain equipment that treats the facility's toxic waste.

And in June, the Ministry of Environment and Parks penalized the mill north of Cranbrook for nearly two dozen failures to control the release of emissions.

The facility, which was opened in 1968 and produces about 245,000 tonnes of bleached kraft pulp for export every year, is required to adhere to a permit that limits the amount of air pollution, liquid and solid waste it can release.

In the province's latest decision, Mayberry noted the ministry had issued the mill seven warnings in the past five years, and eight penalties over the past decade.

In submissions, Domtar said it should not be penalized for contraventions to air pollution discharges over three years when it had sought, and was eventually granted, the removal of certain opacity limits--a real-time proxy for the amount of particulate matter released into the air.

But Mayberry said the company's efforts to remove its air pollution limits were not relevant to its compliance history.

The largest share of the penalties came from failures to test contaminants coming out of its industrial stacks during actual operating conditions--a violation that should have been "easy to predict" and made it impossible for the Ministry of Environment and Parks to understand how much it was polluting.

"This interferes with the Ministry's capacity to protect the environment or human health," Mayberry wrote.

Penalties were also handed to Skookumchuk for bypassing treatment works and discharged contaminants from an incinerator on 16 occasions.

Mayberry classified those failures as moderate because under the circumstances, not venting the gases could have caused an explosion.

Between October 2022 and December 2023, the mill was found to have exceeded limits for odorous total reduced sulphur emissions 186 times. Some of the discharges were found to be more than five times above provincial limits.

Long-term and repeated exposure to total reduced sulphur, meanwhile, can lead to nausea, fatigue, vertigo, loss of smell, memory loss and severe neurological effects, among other symptoms. In the environment, total reduced sulphur contributes to the formation of acid rain, which has "devastating effects on vegetation and stream health," according to a federal inventory of pollutants.

"The odour can travel long distances and can become a nuisance to neighbouring areas, depending on wind speed and weather conditions," notes Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Mayberry found Skookumchuck's breaches should be classified as moderate contraventions because at low concentrations total reduced sulphur "is generally associated with nuisance rather than a risk of significant adverse health effects."

The mill also was found to have improperly maintained equipment and failed to meet critical reporting requirements on multiple occasions spanning June 2022 to February 2024.

Mayberry found the mill's actions did not directly cause the equipment failures and that it did try to limit the environmental fallout by shutting down machines, among other actions.

In submissions, Skookumchuck said it had re-trained workers and revised its internal procedures to immediately notify the ministry of any violations.

In the end, however, the director found the company's actions did not correct the failure and instead, were "reactionary responses."

Domtar has an opportunity to appeal within 30 days of the decision.