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An environmental group has lost its legal challenge of regulatory exemptions given to a pair of dams in northern British Columbia.

“It’s bitterly disappointing and a worrying judgment,” Alan Andrews, lawyer for the Sierra Club of B.C., said Wednesday.

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Progress Energy built the dams to store water for its natural gas fracking operations in the northern part of the province. Court heard the company inadvertently built the dams too high, which brought into force environmental regulations the dams couldn’t meet.

The province granted the company an exemption from the rules.

Lawyers for the Sierra Club argued the government wasn’t allowed to grant such exemptions after the fact.

They said environmental assessment legislation would be undermined if proponents could build and operate a project in violation of the rules, then benefit from an exemption.

The court found the company reported the problem as soon as it was discovered. It also ruled Progress had done what it could to consult with local people and to ensure the dams were safe.