The Canadian unit of Wisconsin-based industrial contractor Michels Corp. has been ordered by a British Columbia court to pay $2.1-million after pleading guilty earlier this month to two federal charges for violating Canada environmental laws in drilling fluid spills in the province.
The pleas and penalty follow a federal probe of fluid and sediment releases through storm sewers in 2017 by Nisku, Alberta-based Michels Canada Co. from project horizontal directional drilling. The contamination into two waterways killed hundreds of fish, said Environment and Climate Change Canada, a federal agency.