CN Rail fined $100K for spraying herbicide on tracks without clearance, damaging vegetation

CN Rail has been fined $100,000 for spraying harmful pesticide over 150 kilometres of track in northwestern B.C., damaging vegetation near the Skeena River.

The railway pleaded guilty on Thursday for failing to get proper authorization to spray the herbicide between Terrace and Prince Rupert in August 2017, according to the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.

Photos from environmentalists who spotted the damage showed what appeared to be a line of dead vegetation crossing creeks and waterways near the CN tracks.

The line is