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Charges smell

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while residents of halton re-gion stifle under the stench of Toronto’s sewage, NOW has learned that the firm responsible for trucking and storing the gunk is facing charges for faulty operations at another of its facilities.Azurix North America, a U.S.-owned subsidiary of Enron Corp., is currently storing T.O. waste in an open lagoon at Halton’s W.A. Johnson Biosolids Storage Facility, and has been slapped with 11 charges by the ministry of the environment’s Investigation and Enforcement Branch (IEB).

The ministry charges the company with violating environmental regulations at its Hamilton-Wentworth water and wastewater treatment plant.

Ironically, the company brags on its Web site that private sector operation of municipal water and wastewater facilities was a new industry until the “landmark’ public/private was deal formed in Hamilton ­– the very enterprise it is now allegedly botching.

An MOE spokesperson confirms that a court date has been set for February.

Greg Hoath of the International Union of Operating Engineers local 772 says Azurix tried to plea bargain with the province last year while the IEB was conducting its investigation.

That effort crumbled when local MPP Bill Clark opposed it. Says Clark, “I thought it was completely inappropriate. No one is above the law.’ Azurix representatives could not be reached for comment.

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