B.C. penalizes helicopter company for illegal dumping after glacier crash

The B.C. government has penalized Alpine Helicopters Inc. after the company dumped fuel-contaminated snow and crash debris on Crown land near Golden following a helicopter accident at Saskatchewan Glacier in Banff National Park.

The Bell 407 crashed on April 14, 2023, releasing aviation fuel and transmission fluid onto the snow. Four days later, Parks Canada officials found 80 to 90 per cent of the spill had been cleaned up. But the leftover contaminated material became the subject of a whistleblower complaint two and a half years later.

A former employee alleged that top management had orchestrated what they called a "cheaper and faster" option to avoid 20 to 30 minutes of extra flight time to a proper disposal site. A group that included three engineers, one pilot, and the base manager were instructed to transport about 100 garbage bags of fuel-soaked snow to Crown land about 85 kilometres north of Golden and dump it there, the complaint alleged.

Conservation officers visited the coordinates provided by the whistleblower and found fibreglass and metallic paint chips matching the helicopter's orange, black, and white colour scheme. Time-stamped photos matched the landscape.

Parks Canada staff had been told the bagged material would be flown out and brought to the base for proper handling. Instead, it was dumped near a creek, according to the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Parks decision.

The decision noted that aviation fuel contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can harm invertebrates and other organisms when present in soil.

Alpine was initially assessed a $43,093 penalty but that was reduced to $18,550 after the ministry found low to no real or potential negative environmental or health effects.