[SUMMERSIDE, PE] — An owner of a P.E.I. peat moss company has been fined $3,000 after pleading guilty to a charge under the Environmental Protection Act.
Tonia Endres of Nova Scotia pleaded guilty in provincial court in Summerside Thursday to violating watercourse and wetland regulations set out in the act.
Endres is one of the officers of Gulf Island Peat Moss, which is located in Foxley River. The charge, under section 3(3) of the act, contends that proper approval was not obtained prior to representatives of the company cleaning out a ditch adjacent to their Foxley River property.
The ditch and trees along alongside it acted as a buffer zone to area watercourses and wetlands. The court heard that the ditch had been filling with peat and that the company had cleaned it out even though it wasn't on its property.
Endres' attorney Krista MacKay said before doing that work the proper permits were not obtained.
The Crown recommended that the minimum fine of $3,000 be imposed.
Judge Jeff Lantz agreed. He also ordered Endres to pay a $50 victim surcharge.
