ALBERTA — A Peace River company has been charged with one count of violating the Fisheries Act after an investigation related to illegal wastewater dumping in the Peace River. On October 11th, at the Alberta Court of Justice, Mercer Peace River Pulp was ordered to pay a $1 million fine after pleading guilty to violating the Fisheries Act. According to the courts, Mercer Peace River deposited or permitted the deposit of 30.8 million litres of wastewater that was toxic to the local fish population from its pulp mill into the river. …Environment and Climate Change Canada’s investigation determined the offence occurred during a maintenance shutdown of the mill… Mercer Peace River hadn’t maintained sufficient capacity in the pond to capture the additional wastewater. Since then, officials maintain Mercer Peace River has taken steps to increase the capacity of the spill pond.