Ontario Construction News staff writer
The Environmental Protection Ministry says an engineer has failed to provide accurate documents to the ministry, and has as a result been fined $12,000.
Christopher Follett was convicted of one violation of the Environmental Protection Act for intentionally lying to the ministry about the disposal of waste at a site in Stirling-Rawdon in 2021.
The ministry says it received reports in November 2020 that trucks were hauling material to a rural area on Bronson Rapids Road.
It says ministry staff visited the site and observed about 30 piles of grey soil, including chunks of clay, mixed wood, metal, plastics, carpet, wire, asphalt, rocks and brick at the site.
The ministry says it believes the material came from a contaminated cleanup site, and that the owner of the property should remove the waste and provide documents confirming it has been done.
The ministry says it contacted Follett – who was using a fake name – twice in 2021, but he denied providing the documents.
Investigators were able to obtain court orders for Google to supply the ministry with email records, which they say confirmed Follett had provided the documents.
Follett was convicted in April.
In addition to the fine, the ministry says it has also charged Follett with a victim fine surcharge of $3,000, and gave him one year to pay.