| Driver linked to Goldstream fuel spill to plead guilty to one count
A former Columbia Fuels truck driver who crashed and spilled 47,000 litres of fuel into Goldstream River last year will plead guilty to one of his charges, his lawyer says. The allegations stem from when a Victoria-bound Columbia Fuels truck flipped in the s-turns of the Malahat Drive on April 16, 2011, and plowed into the rock face. Smith's defence lawyer Dale Marshall said his client will enter a guilty plea to one of the three counts, but declined to say which one. With its tanks gashed open, the truck spilled 42,000 litres of gasoline and 700 litres of diesel into a culvert that emptied into the popular fish-bearing stream. A scheduled pre-trial conference today at Western Communities Courthouse turned into a Marshall requesting the court to fix a date for a sentencing hearing. It appears Smith would likely plead guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, rather than one of the charges linked to impaired driving. Smith no longer works for Columbia Fuels and Marshall said his client "is not driving" for a living. That hearing date has not yet been set. The dramatic crash killed hundreds or perhaps thousands of fish in Goldstream River and closed the Malahat highway for nearly 24 hours, stranding hundreds of drivers. Columbia Fuels is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in a long-term cleanup and remediation effort to restore the Goldstream River ecosystem back to health, in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and a group of five Saanich First Nations. Driver linked to Goldstream fuel spill to plead guilty to one count |
Friday 9 March 2012
Driver linked to Goldstream fuel spill to plead guilty to one count
