Hearing Held Over Canadian Mining Giant's Columbia River Environmental Liability

Native News Network Staff in Native Challenges. Discussion »

YAKIMA, WASHINGTON – Wednesday, a hearing was held in Federal District Court to determine whether Teck Metals, Ltd. will be held liable under US law for the industrial wastes it discarded into the Columbia River that traveled into the United States.

Colville Tribal Chairman John Sirois

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the State of Washington and Teck presented scientific evidence and admissions of Teck's discharges over a period of decades.

“Over the last decade we've taken significant steps to ensure that Teck is held responsible for the millions of tons of hazardous substances it discarded into the River,”

said Colville Tribal Chairman John Sirois.

“Teck's actions injured our Tribes' lands, waters, and other natural resources. The Columbia River and Lake Roosevelt is a center of our Tribal culture, and we want to ensure contamination in the River is adequately assessed and addressed. It's time to clean up the River.”

Since 2004, the Tribes and the State of Washington have been engaged in litigation with Teck related to the hazardous substances it discarded into the Columbia River. Last month, days before the trial was originally scheduled to begin, Teck finally admitted that it disposed of millions of tons of slag (smelting waste) and other hazardous waste including mercury, cadmium, zinc, copper, arsenic and lead into the Columbia River and Lake Roosevelt. Teck also admitted these wastes are releasing hazardous substances into the environment.

For years, Teck has argued that its wastes are not present in the US, and if they are, its slag is 'inert' and that not a single drop of their liquid effluent remains in the Columbia River. Recently, Teck admitted that its hazardous wastes are in the Columbia River, have leached, and are continuing to release hazardous substances including lead, zinc, arsenic, and cadmium into the environment.

“Teck Metals has already acknowledged that it released millions of tons of toxic pollution into Washington state, and we feel confident the federal court will find that US cleanup laws apply to Teck,”

said Jim Pendowski, Ecology's Toxics Cleanup Program Manager.

“The law has consistently been on our side, and making American taxpayers bear the burden of cleanup costs doesn't make sense.”

At Wednesday's hearing, evidence showed that Teck used the smelting site located on the Columbia River to discard waste, which is expensive to dispose of, and allowed it to flow downstream. Additionally, evidence was presented showing that:

Today's hearing focused on the two remaining contested legal matters - whether the court has personal jurisdiction over Teck, and whether Teck's actions constitute arrangement for disposal of hazardous substances under federal environmental law.

“It's time for Teck to finally be held accountable for its actions,”

Sirois said.

“We are hopeful this decision will benefit future generations - not just Tribal members but everyone that uses the Columbia River. It will present a clearer path for the United States to deal with the remediation of the Columbia River under US law and that the Tribes, as a sovereign entity, will participate in the process to thoroughly investigate and clean up the river system.”

A decision on this hearing is anticipated before the end of 2012.

posted October 12, 2012 8:57 am edt