The Alberta government has now laid five charges against Gas Plus and four other companies affiliated with the gas station responsible for the leak of an underground gas tank in the Bowness area of Calgary.

Gas Plus Inc., Handel Transport (Northern) Ltd., Handel Transport Ltd., Tank Testers Plus Inc., and Tri-Con Transport Ltd. are facing five charges under the province's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act:

  • releasing or permitting the release into the environment of a substance that causes or may cause a significant adverse effect;
  • failing to report the release to the proper authorities as soon as it occurred (two counts);
  • failing to take all reasonable measures to repair, remedy and confine the effects of the substance; and
  • failing to take all reasonable measures to remediate, manage, remove or otherwise dispose of the substance in such a manner as to prevent an adverse effect or further adverse effect.

The issue with the Gas Plus station all started in 2010 when an estimated 9,000 litres of fuel started leaking from underground tanks into the soil.

As a result, residents nearby complained of gas fumes in their basements and several building permits have been held up ever since the leak was found in May 2010.

At that time, the company said the leak was the size of a pinhole and claim they responded immediately to the problem.

However, in December, residents in the area still complained about the fumes. "We didn't know what it was. We though it might've been a new laundry detergent. We though it migh have been the new fabric softener. Go thru everything making sure there's not paint in the house, trying to narrowing it down, that type of thing, before we realized it was coming out of the well," said Terry Floate.

At that time, Alberta Environment slapped the company with an environmental protection order for failing to remediate contamination on and off its property.

The company was given an order to clean up by March 2011, but project delays forced that to be pushed back to the end of June 2011.

Following that deadline, the province worked out a deal with the company to build a concrete retaining wall around the contaminated soil instead of removing it from the ground.

The problem took a turn for the worse in January 2011 when three families had to be evacuated from their homes until the clean up was finished due to dangerous levels of fuel in the ground.

In March, the final report hadn't been completed on the site so any remediation efforts were stalled, causing businesses in the area to become concerned.

The province gave the owners of the gas station a firm order to clean up the site after they rejected an appeal back in January of this year.

They were attempting to clean up the soil in the ground by using a chemical that broke down the gas in the soil, but the province said the company wasn't moving fast enough and ordered them to use heavy equipment and start digging.

The company has since begun demolishing the station in Bowness.

The first court appearance is set for May 16.