Natural gas company fined after dead birds found floating in fracking fluid tank

Anatural gas company has been fined $235,000after 14 migratory birds were found dead in one of its containment tanks north of Fort St. John, B.C.

Calgary-based Painted Pony Energy was given the fine last month after pleading guilty in May to depositing a harmful substance in an area frequented by migratory birds.

A B.C. provincial court judge ordered the company to pay $115,000 to Ducks Unlimited Canada and $57,500each to the Mackenzie Nature Observatory and to the Oiled Wildlife Society of British Columbia. A fine of $5,000 will also be paid to the Environmental Damages Fund.

The company will also be added to the federal Environmental Offenders Registry.

Environment Canada says enforcement officers found the birds floating on the surface of an above-ground tank used to store fluid for the hydraulic fracturing process in 2013, but says the company has since installed equipment to ensure no other birds become trapped.

With files from Andrew Kurjata