Smell, maintenance failure lands Kootenay pulp mill $63,000 fine

The smell of sulfur from pulp mills is largely considered safe, but excessive pollution still earned a Kootenay pulp mill thousands in fines.

On Oct. 15, Domtar’s Skookumchuk pulp mill was fined nearly $63,000 by the province’s environmental enforcement branch in one of multiple penalties against the company in the past several years.

The combined penalty examined dozens of times the mill exceeded its pollution limits of sulfur and other gasses, failed to maintain its own equipment and bypassed incinerators designed to burn off pollutants.

Its single largest contribution came from a failure to properly test off gasses, accounting for more than a third of the overall fine. Domtar challenged the requirement as unreasonable, noting it wouldn’t have been fined for testing failures under its adjusted 2025 permit.

While the gasses are considered more of a nuisance than a risk to human health or natural habitats, the report noted its repeated enforcement at Domtar’s Skookumchuk mill.

According to the regulatory report detailing the fine, Domtar was given seven warnings in the past five years, with eight fines in the past decade. It hasn’t just been about the pulp mill odors.

Earlier this year, the province fined Domtar more than $56,000 for toxic waste discharged into the Kootenay River, which was found to be toxic to trout.

The company challenged some of the province’s findings, but it was still handed a combined $63,000 with 30 days to take it up with the Environmental Appeal Board.