Canadian mining company Teck Metals fined $2.2M for polluting B.C. river - Action News
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British Columbia

Canadian mining company Teck Metals fined $2.2M for polluting B.C. river

Environment and Climate Change Canada says that Teck Metals, Ltd. earlier pleaded guilty to two charges laid under the federal Fisheries Act and one charge under British Columbia's Environmental Management Act.

Teck's operations in B.C.'s West Kootenay leaked pollutants into Columbia River in 2019: Environment Canada

An aerial shot of a mining company's operations framed by mountains and flanked on the right by a river.
Teck Metals has been ordered to pay fines of $2.2 million for discharging pollutants from its operations in Warfield in B.C.'s West Kootenay into the Columbia River, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. (Canadian Press)

Environment and Climate Change Canada says Teck Metals Ltd., a subsidiary of Teck Resources Ltd., has been ordered to pay $2.2 million in federal and provincial fines for an effluent spill into the Columbia River.

The government department says in a statement that Teck earlier pleaded guilty to two charges laid under the federal Fisheries Act and one charge under British Columbia's Environmental Management Act.

The charges stem from a February 2019 release of effluent into the Columbia River, which the government says was caused by a leak from the company's fertilizer operations in Warfield, B.C.

The government says the low-pH effluent was harmful to fish.

Environment and Climate Change Canada investigated the spill and found that the 2.5-million-litre discharge resulted from numerous operational errors.

They say that Teck will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry, and the federal fine of $2 million will go to the government's Environmental Damages Fund.