IN THE PROVINCIAL COURT OF ALBERTA CRIMINAL DIVISION HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. -and- GAS PLUS INC. STATEMENT OF AGREED FACTS

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1 IN THE PROVINCIAL COURT OF ALBERTA CRIMINAL DIVISION BETWEEN: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN -and- GAS PLUS INC. STATEMENT OF AGREED FACTS Gas Plus Inc. stands charged that: Count1 On or between the 1st day of January 2010 and the 3rd day of June 2010, at or near Calgary in the Province of Alberta, did release or permit the release into the environment of a substance in an amount, concentration or level or at a rate of release that causes or may cause a significant adverse effect contrary to section 109(2) of the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and did thereby commit an offence contrary to s. 227(j) of the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, evidence of the said offence having first come to the attention of the Director on April 8, Count2 On or between the 1st day of January 2010 and the ih day of June 2010, at or near Calgary in the Province of Alberta, being a person who releases or causes or permits the release of a substance into the environment that may cause, is causing or has caused an adverse effect did fail to report that release to the Director as soon as that person knew or ought to have known of the release contrary to section 11 0(1) of the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and did thereby commit an offence contrary to s. 227(j) of the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, evidence of the said offence having first come to the attention of the Director on April 8, Between the dates January 1, 2010 and December 3, 2010, Gas Plus Inc. ("Gas Plus") operated a retail gasoline station located at 6336 Bowness Road NW, in Calgary, Alberta. The station site was and still is owned by Handel Transport (Northern) Ltd. ("Handel Transport"). Gas Plus leased and operated the gas station. Both corporations are owned and controlled by the same individual.

2 The gas station stored gasoline and other petroleum products for retail sale in underground storage tanks. These underground storage tanks were connected to above-ground gasoline pumps which dispensed the gasoline. Gasoline is a flammable petroleum hydrocarbon whose vapours are potentially harmful to human health. One of the harmful components of gasoline is benzene. Bowness Road is a major roadway located in the northwest part of Calgary. The Gas Plus station is on the north side of Bowness Road and occupies the southwest corner of a block. A commercial building (6324 Bowness Road NW), not associated with Gas Plus or Handel Transport, is located just to the east of the Gas Plus station on the same block. To the northeast and across an alley from the Gas Plus station are residences located on Bow Crescent: 6327 Bow Crescent is located directly across the alley from the gas station. Located on this site is a newer owner-occupied home, 6323 Bow Crescent is located immediately southeast of Located on this site is an older owner-occupied home, 6319 Bow Crescent is located immediately southeast of Located on this site is a rental home The Alberta Fire Code is adopted as a regulation under the Alberta Safety Codes Act. Under the Alberta Fire Code, operators are required to report the loss of flammable liquid or combustible liquid to the local authority in three situations: Where there is more than a 0.5% loss over the period of a month, Where there is an unexplained loss for more than five consecutive days per month, or Where there is an unexplained loss for 18 days in one month. Gas Plus maintained a computerized gasoline inventory system. A feature of this system was an automatic prompt for each of the three parameters corresponding to the reporting requirements in the Fire Code. At the bottom of each monthly report generated by the system, the system showed the recorded data and answered the following questions: Are there 5 consecutive days of unexplained losses? Are there 18 days in the month of unexplained losses? Is my monthly variance greater than.5%? In the event of any exceedances for any of the three parameters, the system highlighted the entry in orange.

3 According to the written instructions to the operator of the system, under the heading "NOTIFICATION", the operator was instructed to do the following: If you have any unexplained product losses or excessive daily variations that are greater than normal, have you investigated this further and notified and proper authorities if necessary? For the month of January 2010, the records for regular gasoline at the Gas Plus station showed an exceedance on all three parameters monitored by the system. In answer to the question: "Are there 5 consecutive days of unexplained losses?" the system showed an answer of "Yes". In answer to the question: "Are there 18 days in the month of unexplained losses?" the system showed an answer of "Yes". The monthly variance was recorded as.81 %, in excess of the.5% limit, but, in answer to the question "Is my monthly variance greater.5%?" the system showed the answer as "No". Despite this evidence of loss from its gasoline inventory, no report was made by Gas Plus to Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD), the regulator to whom releases of substances into the environment which may cause an adverse effect must be reported nor to the Calgary Fire Department (CFD), the local authority to whom losses of flammable substances such as gasoline must be reported under the Fire Code. For the month of February 2010, Gas Plus' gasoline inventory records showed a loss of gasoline from the underground storage tanks of 0.72 % with 18 days of unexplained losses. Again, Gas Plus did not report this fact to AESRD or CFD. In March of 2010, the occupant of 6323 Bow Crescent noticed suspicious odours in his house but could not pinpoint the source. On March 17, 2010, staff at an office located at 6324 Bowness Road, next to the Gas Plus station, noticed gasoline odours in their basement. By April 1, 2010, the odours had worsened to the point that staff were sent home because they were suffering from headaches. For the month of March 2010, Gas Plus' gasoline inventory records showed a loss from their underground storage tanks of 1.81% with 18 days of unexplained losses. Gas Plus did not report this possible release of gasoline into the environment to AESRD or CFD. On April 8, 2010, the Calgary Fire Department ("CFD") was called to the commercial building at 6324 Bowness Road. CFD detected measurable gas in the basement air and believed the likely source was the subsoil and gravel under the building. Gas Plus staff told CFD at the time that their leak detection system did not show any leaks from the Gas Plus Station. CFD reported to AESRD that they had investigated a gasoline odour. An investigation by AESRD was closed on April 28, 2010 without discovering the source of the odour.

4 For the month of April 2010, Gas Plus' gasoline inventory records showed a loss of gasoline from the underground storage tanks of 1.41 % with 18 days of unexplained losses. Again, Gas Plus did not report this to AESRD or CFD. On May 11, 2010, AESRD received a report from a consultant retained by a nearby property owner stating that he had found gasoline in a monitoring well in April at the Gas Plus station site. Gas Plus was asked by AESRD to respond immediately. On June 3, 2010, a consultant retained by Gas Plus found free gasoline in 3 monitoring wells on the Gas Plus station site and in a monitoring well located in the adjacent alley. The consultant also found a leaking gas line at one of the pumps on the Gas Plus station site. The consultant summarized his observations as follows: June 3, A site visit was undertaken and free gasoline product was found in well north of the pump island indicating a sizable product loss to the ground. Given our knowledge of the site - that the site was underlain by highly permeable gravels and groundwater is migrating towards the river and under residences, we told Gas Plus that immediate action was required. On June 4, 2010, the consultant recorded in his notebook that the principal of Gas Plus told him that inventory records showed 7,000 to 9,000 liters of gasoline were missing. In June 2010, the occupants of a residence at 6327 Bow Crescent noticed an unusual "glue like" odour in their home. On August 3, 2010, the occupants of 6323 Bow Crescent returned to their home to discover an overwhelming odour of gasoline. On August 4, the occupants could no longer tolerate the odours and called Calgary emergency services. The CFD responded and detected gasoline vapours in the basement. The arrival of the fire trucks alerted the owner of Gas Plus and his consultant. CFD was told by Gas Plus that the consultant had been removing 6-7 litres per day of raw gasoline from monitoring wells on the Gas Plus site for the previous 2.5 weeks. On August 5, 2010, the consultant retained by Gas Plus reported in a letter to AESRD that gasoline had been found in two groundwater monitoring wells located on the Gas Plus Station. The consultant reported that the likely source of the gasoline was a poor connection on a gasoline pump at the Gas Plus Station and estimated that 7,000 to 9,000 liters of gasoline had leaked into the soil. The consultant described the source of the gasoline leak as follows:... source of leak traced to bad connection in pump, compounded by hole in spill box below pump, compounded by alarm in spill box being placed above hole in spill box

5 The consultant retained by Gas Plus subsequently prepared a report in April 2011 which stated that the leak of gasoline from the Gas Plus station began in early 2010 and resulted in the release of about 7200 liters of gasoline into the ground. The plume of gasoline had migrated underground to the northeast of the Gas Plus Station. The heaviest contamination was located in the alley behind the Gas Plus Station but the contamination plume also extended under and affected mainly 3 residences on the other side of the alley Bow Crescent, 6323 Bow Crescent, and 6327 Bow Crescent. On November 19, 2010, after investigating complaints of gasoline odours, Alberta Health Services (AHS) recommended that 6323 Bow Crescent not be occupied due to health risks associated with gasoline vapours in the home. AHS noted that the benzene concentrations in the home were 100 times the limit set by Health Canada to protect human health. On December 3, 2010, AESRD issued an Environmental Protection Order under EPEA requiring Gas Plus and Handel Transport to undertake take specific steps to remediate the release of gasoline. On December 29, 2010, Alberta Health Services declared 6319 Bow Crescent unfit for habitation because of potential health impacts from vapours related to the release of gasoline. On January 19, 2011 AHS ordered Gas Plus to take specific actions to deal with air quality in the affected residences. On January 21, 2011, AHS recommended 6327 Bow Crescent not be occupied due to potential health impacts from gasoline vapours. The Gas Plus station site is closed and the current status of the properties most affected by the gasoline release is as follows: * 6327 Bow Crescent was reoccupied by its owners after AHC authorized reoccupancy on September 1, 6323 Bow Crescent remains occupied by its owners, 6319 Bow Crescent remains unoccupied. AGREED TO THIS 9th DAY OF December, 2013 Norm lly Counsel Gas Plus In