Without explanation province wipes CN Rail’s $2.7M fine for starting BC wildfire

Without explanation, the province has wiped a $2.7-million fine it issued to CN Rail for starting a wildfire outside of Lillooet in 2018.

According to an April 17 BC Forest Appeals Commission decision, the province has settled with CN Rail and completely rescinded the fine.

The recently published settlement order, signed off by Forest Appeals Commission chair Jeffrey Hand, and panel members Bijan Pourkarimi and Diana Valiela, gives no explanation why they made the U-turn decision, which now leaves taxpayers on the hook.

After saying it was committed to “transparency and openness”, the Ministry of Forests refused to say why the fine had been rescinded without explanation.

The Ministry said it was a complex and sensitive matter, and the decision lay with the quasi-judicial appeal body, the Forest Appeals Commission.

The Forest Appeals Commission didn’t respond when asked why details of the appeal were being kept secret.

The issue dates back to a 2018 wildfire at Anderson Lake west of Lillooet.

It cost BC Wildfire Service $2,699,064 to deal with the blaze that engulfed almost 500 hectares and burned for four months before it was finally extinguished.

Three years after fire K70348 was dealt with, an investigation by the province confirmed that Canadian National Railway had caused the blaze.

The Ministry found CN Rail staff or contractors had caused the wildfire while doing maintenance in May 2018.

“These activities allegedly included digging with an excavator, laying new rock ballast, and rock scaling… on CNR’s track,” a decision in 2021 said.

CN Rail was later fined $2,699,064 to cover the cost of dealing with the wildfire. It was also ordered to pay a further $5,524 to cover the timber lost in the fire.

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In 2021, CN Rail appealed the $2.7-million fine, arguing it hadn’t caused the blaze.

A year later, third-party contractor John Hunter Co. successfully applied to have intervener status in the matter.

The file was scheduled for a hearing in January, but appears not to have taken place.

Now, several years into the legal proceeding, the fine has been wiped.

Along with the steep fine, CN Rail was also facing charges under the Wildfire Act.

The four charges, which included unlawfully starting a fire, were laid in 2021 and set to go to trial the following year. Penalties for starting a fire can be as high as $1,000,000.

However, the charges were later dropped. As is standard practice, Crown prosecutors don’t have to give reasons for dropping charges.

The issue of trains starting wildfires came to the forefront when in 2021, during the heat dome event, the Village of Lytton was destroyed. Many pointed the finger at freight trains passing through the area, but the Transportation Safety Board concluded that there was no evidence that the railway had caused the blaze.

In 2020, CN Rail was ordered to pay a $16.6 million fine after being found responsible for a wildfire near Lytton in 2015.