Fort Smith (Nov 22/04) - A Fort Smith contractor has been sent to jail for failing to begin cleaning up environmental contamination under a court order.

Armando Berton appeared before a special sitting of NWT Supreme Court in Fort Smith on Nov. 15.

Justice John Vertes sentenced Berton to 30 days imprisonment, which is a partial suspension of an 18-month conditional sentence imposed in September.

The case actually has its origins in 1997 when the court ordered Berton to safely store oil and other contaminants at industrial storage sites.

In September, he was given an 18-month conditional sentence to be followed by 12 months probation for failing to obey the earlier court order. He was also told to meet the conditions of the 1997 order.

Among the conditions of the order were that Berton fence the sites, have adequate storage barrels, post no-smoking signs and have fire extinguishers on hand.

Berny Bergman, an environmental compliance specialist with RWED, said he met with Berton following the September court hearing and laid out a schedule for clean up of two sites and the transportation of contaminants, mostly petroleum products, to a secure compound, yet to be built. "It appears he did about 15 minutes worth of removal of contaminants over two-and-a-half months," Bergman says. "He didn't even take baby steps."

Bergman says about 35,000 litres of liquid petroleum products are involved.