Decision Date: April 1, 1998

Panel: Toby Vigod

Cloverdale Fuels Ltd., Dixon Bulldozing Ltd. and Raintree Lumber Specialties Ltd. filed an appeal and requested a general stay of an Amended Pollution Abatement/Pollution Prevention Order. International Forest Products Ltd., Hammond Cedar Division, was also an Appellant but had applied for a separate stay earlier. The Order had been issued to the parties, among others, on the basis that Burrows Ditch and related tributaries was being polluted as a result of wood waste being deposited on two properties in Surrey.

The Board found that there was a serious issue to be tried, that the stay applications were neither frivolous nor vexatious, and that the Appellants had raised serious concerns relating to alleged breaches of procedural and substantive requirements for issuing an Order under the Waste Management Act. Also, the Panel found that the information provided did not indicate that irreparable harm could result to either the government or the environment if the stay were not granted. Conversely, it was found that the possibility of penalties for failing to comply with the Order exposed the Appellants to irreparable harm if the stay were not granted. The Respondent Ministry did not object to granting a stay of the Order until the appeal was decided. The application was granted and the Order in its entirety was stayed as it related to the four Appellants, pending a final decision of the Board on the merits of the appeal.