Danny Lasante, the tanker truck driver involved in a fuel spill in the Slocan Valley, was sentenced to pay a fine of $20,000 today. Half of that will have to paid to the Habitat Conservation Fund and it has to be paid over two years, according to Bill Metcalfe, a reporter with the Nelson Star who was at the Nelson Courthouse for the sentencing.
Lasante was convicted nearly a year ago of a pollution charge after his truck dumped roughly 33,000 litres of jet fuel into Lemon Creek. His employer, Executive Flight Centre, will have to stand trial as well but no date has been set. The company was initially let off the hook but the crown successfully appealed the decision.
Metcalfe also reports that Lasante did make a statement “saying that he was very remorseful about what he had done, about the damage that he had caused and that he’s very sensitive to environmental issues like that.”