Inuvik (July 30/04) - It started out as a regular day in May for Inuvik mechanic Roland Petrin, until a renewable resource officer arrived to pick up his repaired departmental vehicle.

Outside the shop, the officer spotted some spilt oil on the ground and gave Petrin seven days to clean it up or face a fine.

With the ground still frozen, Petrin asked for more time, but on May 31 he was issued a $250 fine for 'discharging a contaminant into the environment,' a violation of Canada's Environmental Protection Act.

"This is totally unfair," said Petrin. "It's my yard so of course I want it cleaned up, but I'm not an environmental hazard."

The two renewable resource officers involved in the investigation were unavailable for comment. However, RWED regional superintendent Ron Morrison compared the fine Petrin received to a speeding ticket.

As Petrin has decided to fight the fine, his case will come before the territorial court Aug. 16. Because of this, Morrison would not comment further.

"I can't speak to it when it's an ongoing investigation," he said.

And as far as Petrin can tell, the search for oil on his property has been nothing but an ongoing affair. Attached to his ticket is a warning that if he does not comply he could face a $300,000 fine.

"They've been here six times so far -- when's it going to stop?" he asked.

He pointed to an ever-widening area of excavated land on his lot that is currently 15' by 34' and 12 to 20 inches deep.

"There can't be more than 10 gallons of oil in this pile here," he said, picking a lump of dirt crystallized by oil from the five-foot pile of excavated dirt. "That's eight years worth of spillage."

Petrin took over the property to run his auto mechanics shop in 1996 and estimates he goes through about 800 gallons of motor oil each year. Oil drums on Petrin's property are stored on wooden palettes and he says that the spillage has come from vehicles he serviced in the past.

"If somebody pulls in here leaking power steering fluid, it goes on the ground and wherever the car has been before coming here," he said. "We're not causing the leaks. We're fixing them."

The costs

Investigations for violations of the EPA have been known to continue for months and years at a great cost. The clean-up bill -- generally handed to those deemed at fault -- can also be costly.

In his case, Petrin estimates that the excavation and clean-up of his property will be in the neighbourhood of $2,500.

"It was impossible to find somebody (to excavate) in the beginning because everybody was tied up," he said. "So I started this by hiring a kid with a shovel and a bucket to get it going."