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DTE Energy will be in a Canadian court next month—maybe.
The public utility will be given a chance July 7 to answer a lawsuit that claims it’s violating Canadian environmental laws, said Scott Edwards, legal director and senior lawyer for international environmental activist group Waterkeeper Alliance.
Edwards filed the lawsuit against DTE in March. He claims releases from DTE’s St. Clair and Belle River power plants have poisoned “the St. Clair River with dangerous amounts of mercury.” The levels violate Canada’s Fisheries Act, a law more stringent than U.S. environmental laws, Edwards claims in his lawsuit.
Between 2005 and 2007, Waterkeeper conducted air and sediment tests to determine the amount of mercury released by the plants.
These studies suggest the East China plants emit 2,000 pounds of airborne mercury annually, half of which reaches Canada and makes fish unfit for human consumption, violating Canada’s federal Fisheries Act.
Scott Simons, a DTE spokesman, said the company is in compliance with all federal and state environmental laws.
“It’s not a question if they are contributing—they are—it’s only a question of when they’re going to stop,” Edwards said.
This is the first case of a foreign company being charged with violating a Canadian environmental law.
Simons said DTE hasn’t been officially notified of the court hearing.
“We haven’t been served legally,” he said. “They have to serve us in Canada, and we don’t have any operations in Canada.”
Asked if DTE won’t be present at the hearing if they aren’t served, Simons said “pretty much.”
“We’ll see what happens, but right now we haven’t been served,” he said Friday.
Edwards said if DTE representatives don’t show up for the court date, he will ask the court to move ahead with setting a trial date.
“They’re pretty much closing their eyes and pretending it will go away, and that’s just not going to happen,” he said.
Simons said DTE continues to work toward becoming more environmentally friendly.
“We’re spending $1 billion—that’s with a ‘b’—to reduce mercury and other emissions from our operations, and we’re also supportive of the state’s desire to establish appropriate mercury emission standards,” he said.
The technology is being installed in the Monroe power plant.
Contact Liz Shepard at (810) 989-6273 or lshepard@gannett.com.
Times Herald