CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The Ontario governmenton Tuesday ordered Shell Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary ofRoyal Dutch Shell, to pay C$825,000 ($620,487.36) infines for discharging a contaminating odour from its Sarniarefinery in 2013.
In a statement, the Ontario Ministry for Environment andClimate Change said Shell had pleaded guilty to one offense ofpermitting a discharge of an odour containing mercaptan, afoul-smelling gas.
The Shell Sarnia Manufacturing Centre is located in Corunna,Ontario, and on Jan. 11, 2013, employees discovered a leak froma line containing mercaptan, which flowed into an on-site ditchthat empties into the refinery's storm sewer system.
The odour affected a number of people in the nearbyAamjiwnaang First Nation, with several complaining of sore eyesand throats, headaches, nausea and vomiting.
Shell was fined C$500,000 for the offense, plus a victimsurcharge of C$125,000 and ordered to donate C$200,000 to theAamjiwnaang First Nation.
($1 = 1.3296 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
