R. v. Twin Mountain Construction Ltd., 2001 NSPC 10 (CanLII)
This case was heard in the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia.
In 1997, Twin Mountain Construction Ltd. (“Twin Mountain”) secured approval to operate a sewage sludge composting facility in Kings County, Nova Scotia. The approval was conditional upon the facility’s compliance with municipal zoning restrictions and composting guidelines, and the approval documents also specified that the facility would be subject to future amendments to those restrictions and guidelines.
New municipal zoning regulations came into force in 1998, and some of the facility’s operations that had been lawful under the previous regulations suddenly became unlawful. In 2000, the Municipality of King’s County began ordering Twin Mountain to cease operations and make arrangements for the materials on-site to be removed. The Municipality and Twin Mountain collaborated to find appropriate closure and removal plans for the site, but during the period in which Twin Mountain and the Municipality were attempting to make appropriate arrangements, Twin Mountain failed to comply with a Ministerial Order that imposed a deadline for the removal of sludge and compost materials and the submission of a closure plan for the site. Twin Mountain was therefore charged with failing to comply with a Ministerial Order.
Twin Mountain argued that it was entitled to the defence of due diligence, as it had worked closely with government authorities throughout the entire process and had done its best to comply with all of the instructions it was given. After examining the evidence, the Court agreed, and Twin Mountain was therefore acquitted.
View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nspc/doc/2001/2001nspc10/2001nspc10.html
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