Polluter Pays Principle (Principe du pollueur-payeur):

A principle under which users and producers of pollutants and wastes should bear the responsibility for their actions. Companies or people that pollute should pay the costs they impose on society.

 

 

Case: Supreme Court of Canada Vs. Imperial Oil
December 2003 Levis, Quebec

Minister of the Environment ordered Imperial Oil to clean up contaminated lands previously owned by Imperial Oil. At the time that the order was issued, Imperial Oil was being held accountable for activities that had ceased twenty-five years prior on lands that had not been owned by Imperial Oil for nineteen years. By ruling of the Supreme Court Imperial Oil did not escape their responsibility to clean up their mess.

Case: Supreme Court of Canada Vs. BC Hydro
Janurary 2005, Vancouver, British Columbia

The case began in 1998 when the province issued a remediation order to several owners and operators of a contaminated site at the mouth of the Fraser River, near Vancouver. Under BC's Waste Management Act, the province is authorized to issue clean up orders to 'persons responsible' for contaminating land, including businesses that brought toxic substances to the property. Although the province ordered several parties to pay for the clean up of the site in 1998, BC Hydro tried to escape liability even though its predecessor, the BC Electric Corporation, transported toxic coal tar to the site for 37 years. In the end the Supreme Court found BC Hydro to be responsible along with prior owners in accountability to remediate the site under the provinces orders.

For more information about Polluters Pay Policy click below

Polluters Pay More If They Don’t Keep Water Clean.