LAKE WOLSEY—No charges are going to be laid by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) on the owner of the pickup truck that went through Lake Wolsey this past March.
“The vehicle was removed from the lake on April 22,” Steve Moggy, of the MOE, told the Recorder last week. “No, there will be no charges laid against the driver-owner of the vehicle,” he said, noting that everything was contained and there was no spill from the vehicle into Lake Wolsey.
“There were no problems getting the vehicle out of the lake,” said Mr. Moggy.
As reported previously, on Sunday, March 13, members of the Manitoulin detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) responded to the incident. The first incident involved a Garson man who drove his pickup truck on the thin ice of Lake Wolsey, in Gordon Township. Approximately 400 metres from shore the vehicle broke through the ice and eventually sunk.
Mr. Moggy explained at the time, the MOE regulations regarding vehicles going through the ice. In accordance with ministry regulations, every person who discharges a contaminant into the natural environment shall immediately notify the ministry if the discharge causes or is likely to cause an adverse effect. Persons responsible for a discharge of a contaminant also have a duty to mitigate any effects of the spill.
Bartlett Towing of North Bay removed the vehicle from Lake Wolsey.