Coal company Teck fined $60 million for contaminating B.C. rivers

UPDATE: 1:10 p.m.

Mining giant Teck Resources was hit with a record $60-million penalty Friday related to its East Kootenay coal operations.

The company’s Teck Coal Ltd. subsidiary pleaded guilty to two charges of depositing a deleterious substance under the federal Fisheries Act related to discharges of selenium and calcite into the Fording River and a pond in 2012. Those substances, Associate Chief Justice Paul Dohm heard from prosecutor Alexander Clarkson as part of a joint submission to the court, can cause deformities and mortality in fish fry.

Dohm said cutthroat trout were affected by discharges from the Fording and Greenhill’s mines. Fish had moved from the river into mine settling ponds. Further, he said, calcite can bind rock and gravel together and harm fish habitats.

Selenium is a naturally occurring element that is essential to human health, but at high concentrations it can be toxic to fish, birds and amphibians. Dohm said Tech Coal was aware of selenium and calcite harms prior to 2009 but has taken significant steps since 2012 “to reduce its presence in the Elk Valley watershed.”

But, said Dohm, there has been “very serious damage," although he added the company is one of the world’s leading environmentally committed companies.

And, Teck’s lawyer Richard Peck told Dohm, the guilty pleas avoided what “would have become the largest environmental trial in Canadian history.” The penalty breakdown includes $58 million directed to the federal Environmental Damages Fund and $2 million in fines. The company has until March 2022 to pay.

The company warned shareholders in 2018 third quarter results it had been warned of potential charges in connection with Elk Valley coal mining discharges of selenium and calcite.

“If federal charges are laid, potential penalties may include fines as well as orders with respect to operational matters,” the company said. “It is not possible at this time to fully assess the viability of TCL’s potential defenses to any charges, or to estimate the potential financial impact on TCL of any conviction. Nonetheless, that impact may be material.”

In October 2020, ECCC issued a Fisheries Act direction to Teck Coal setting measures for water quality improvement and prevention of calcite deposition in the Elk Valley in waters affected by Teck’s Fording River and Greenhills operations.

The company has, since the offences, created an Elk Valley water quality plan to address selenium, calcite and other issues, Dohm was told.

Dohm said the company agreed to design water-processing facilities and committed to testing and environmental studies. He said the company has spent or committed several billion dollars to those ends.

It’s not the only such case for Teck Coal. In October 2017, the company pleaded guilty to three counts of contravening the Fisheries Act and was fined $1.425 million to be directed to the federal Environmental Damages Fund, and used for conservation and protection of fish or fish habitat or the restoration of East Kootenay fish habitat.

In that case, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) enforcement officers investigated a report dead fish had been found in ponds fed by Line Creek. That included Bull trout, a species of special concern in this area of British Columbia.

Teck Coal’s Line Creek Operations is located 25 kilometres north of Sparwood in southeastern B.C.

Line Creek is identified by the province as part of a classified water system, meaning it has a high fisheries value and it requires special fishing licenses.

Teck operates four metallurgical coal mines in the Elk Valley.

Teck Resources is expected to comment once court proceedings finish.

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ORIGINAL: 10:50 a.m.

Canadian mining company Teck Coal has been assessed $60 million in fines for contaminating waterways in southern British Columbia.

"It's the largest-ever penalty assessed under the Fisheries Act," federal prosecutor Alexander Clarkson told court in Fernie, B.C., on Friday.

Teck Coal, a subsidiary of Teck Resources, pleaded guilty to two charges of releasing selenium and calcite into the Elk and Fording Rivers between January and December 2012. Clarkson said the fines break down to $80,000 per offence per day.

Selenium is a contaminant common to coal mines. Essential to life in small doses, it can cause fish deformities and reproductive failures in large amounts.

Calcite is a mineral that coats stream bottoms, destroying the habitat that trout need to reproduce.

Clarkson, reading from an agreed statement of facts, said Teck failed to maintain a settling pond for waste material, which allowed contaminated water to mix into the rivers, home to westslope cutthroat trout, a native species considered endangered.

By 2020, Teck's own research showed fish populations had almost collapsed.

The company has since invested heavily in treating selenium and wastewater.

Vickie Thomas of the local Ktunaxa First Nation says the contamination has had significant effects on her people.

"Knowing that fish habitat is impacted by these polluted waters leads to concern for the safety of all the fish as well as for Ktunaxa. The result is an alienation of our people from our lands and waters."

– The Canadian Press