Wastewater operator sentenced to house arrest

A B.C. man who operated wastewater treatment plants at two Suncor work camps was sentenced Friday to a 12-month conditional sentence — with 11 months to be served under house arrest — for the dumping of untreated wastewater at the camps near Fort McMurray, Alta.

Rodney McCabe will only be allowed to leave his B.C. home for three hours each week to buy groceries during his house arrest, a provincial court judge ruled.  He will need to get permission for any other absences. 

McCabe was also barred from operating a wastewater treatment facility for four years, the maximum penalty under Alberta legislation.

McCabe's company, R & D McCabe, was given a three-year ban on operating a wastewater treatment facility. The company was penalized its entire assets of $6,000, a government news release said.

In early March, McCabe and his company pleaded guilty to six charges under Alberta's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, including two counts each of giving false or misleading information in Suncor's annual reports, failing to report approval exceedances and failing to comply with approval limits for total suspended solids and biological oxygen demand at both plants.

The offences took place between September 2005 and January 2007 at Suncor's Millennium Lodge and Borealis facilities.

In April, Suncor was fined $175,000 for failing to properly supervise the Compass Group, which operated the Millennium camp. Compass Group was fined $225,000 for failing to report violations by R & D McCabe, which it had subcontracted to run the water treatment plant.