Teck coal - East Kooentays

By Dori Modney

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

Mar 26, 2021 | 2:06 PM

FERNIE, B.C. — It’s being called the largest-ever penalty assessed under the Canadian Fisheries Act. Teck Coal in the East Kootenays has been fined 60-million dollars, for contaminating waterways in southern British Columbia.

A subsidiary of Teck Resources, Teck Coal pleaded guilty to two charges of releasing selenium and calcite into the Elk and Fording Rivers between January and December 2012. The fine is the equivalent of $80,000 per offence per day.

A total of $58 million of the $60 million will be directed to the Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund and will be used to support projects that benefit Canada’s natural environment. The remaining $2 million are fines which will be directed to the Receiver General.

A comprehensive investigation by Environment and Climate Change Canada, revealed that Teck Coal Limited’s operations were depositing deleterious coal mine waste rock leachate into the upper Fording River. In 2012, this leachate from Teck Coal Limited’s Fording River Operations and Greenhills Operations coal mines deposited selenium and calcite into the upper Fording River.

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

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

The Westslope Cutthroat Trout is the only fish species known to inhabit the upper Fording River and its tributaries. It is a provincially blue-listed species (i.e., a species of concern) and a federal species of concern under the Species at Risk Act. The Westslope Cutthroat Trout in the upper Fording River is one of a limited group of populations that have been identified as genetically pure, making it an important population for Westslope Cutthroat Trout conservation.

An agreed statement of facts, stated 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, under the Fisheries Act, must comply with a Direction requiring pollution reduction measures and has since invested heavily in treating selenium and wastewater.