Second time around. At least they are now going to do some upgrading for the future.
On February 29, 2016 a judge of the British Columbia Provincial Court ordered Teck Metals Ltd. to pay a $3 Million penalty. Teck had pleaded guilty to three offences under the Fisheries Act. The offences related to multiple incidents that had resulted in the discharge of approximately 125,000,000 litres of deleterious effluent into the Columbia River. At various times the effluent contained potentially harmful levels of copper, cadmium, chlorine or ammonia or were acidic. The discharges took place between November 28, 2013 and February 5, 2015.
Under the plea arrangement, the $3 Million penalty was directed to the Federal Government's Environmental Damages Fund, to be used for fish habitat and fisheries restoration projects in the area watersheds. Priority is given to restoration projects that address the damages caused by the discharges.
"Wow", one might say, "$3 Million is serious coin." The fine was just the tip of the iceberg for Teck. As part of the plea arrangement, Teck also agreed to undertake a series of on-site improvement projects in part designed to prevent future releases of deleterious substances into the area watersheds. According to the media release from Environment and Climate Change Canada, implementation of these upgrades will set Teck back another $50 Million, making the fine look like a rounding error.
This is part of an article which was originally written for, and published in Mid-Canada Forestry and Mining magazine. |
