Teck Coal faces new pollution violation charges

British Columbia’s Teck Coal Limited is facing more charges it polluted two tributaries of the Elk River.

According to a press release from Environment and Climate Change Canada Enforcement, it filed five charges against Teck on July 10 for violating the Fisheries Act. The Elk River feeds Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River in Montana.

The Kootenai Tribe is among those who have called on Canadian officials to address the impact of industrial mining on waterways in historic tribal lands and condemned the governments of Canada and British Columbia for “allowing the mining industry to lay waste to Indigenous territory.” 

For over the past 30 years, the Kootenai Tribe has worked to bring back the endangered white sturgeon and burbot to the Kootenai River. Data shows that the fish are being exposed to high levels of selenium, which attacks the fish’s livers and can cause genetic disorders in fish populations. While harmful to fish, selenium is not dangerous to humans.

The Fisheries Act’s subsection 36(3) says it is prohibited to deposit or to permit the deposit of a harmful substance into water frequented by fish or where the substance may enter any such waterway. 

Harmful substances are defined as substances such as oil, chemicals and pesticides that, if added to water, would degrade or alter the water quality to the point that it could harm fish.

Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers are responsible for administering and enforcing the pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act.

Officials say the charges stem from an investigation opened by Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers on March 7, 2023. The investigation was conducted into alleged harmful deposits in Dry Creek on Teck Coal Limited’s Line Creek Operations Mine in British Columbia and the adjacent Fording River.

According to elkvalleycoal.com, Teck’s Fording River Operations are located 18 miles northeast of Elkford and is the largest mine of Teck’s five in the Elk Valley. Fording River produced nine million tons of metallurgical coal in 2016 and achieved $1.4 billion in revenue.

The Fording River Operations began shipping steel-making coal on trains to the West Coast in March 1972. The processed coal is exported by sea to the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere.

Prosecutors say because the charges were laid by indictment, it means they are “deemed more serious.”

Earlier this month, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne approved the sale of Elk Valley Resources, Teck’s coal business, to Switzerland-based Glencore.

Glencore, which attempted a hostile takeover of Teck in 2023, agreed to several stipulations before Canada approved the deal, estimated to be worth $7.3 billion by some media outlets.

The acquisition gives Glencore a 77% interest in Elk Valley Resources, according to a press release from Glencore.

One condition is that Glencore commit an additional $350 million investment in rehabilitation and closure activities over five years.

According to the statement from Champagne, Canada also secured a commitment from Teck to reinvest a significant amount of the proceeds of this transaction into its copper growth portfolio, which will position Teck for leadership in the pivotal area of critical minerals. 

“Today’s decision will result in a well-capitalized Teck that is better able to pursue its ambitions as a major Canadian mining player in critical minerals,” Champagne said in the press release.

Both Teck and Glencore are no strangers to paying fines for pollution they are responsible for in locations all over the world.

Teck pleaded guilty to pollution charges in 2021 dealing with its Greenhills and Fording River mines. It was ordered to pay $60 million in fines after prosecutors successfully leveled two federal counts of unlawfully depositing of harmful substances — in this case, selenium and calcite — into the Fording River.

Selenium concentrates in the eggs of birds and fish and is passed to the developing embryo, where it may cause death or developmental malformations. Reproductive failure accompanied by deformities in the embryos and young signals possible selenium toxicity.

According to Ontario officials, Glencore Canada Corporation was convicted in 2019 and fined $131,250 for failing to immediately report a spill of sulphuric acid into the environment May 9, 2018, at its integrated nickel operation in Sudbury.

During a transfer of acid from a rail car to a truck, an accident occurred and approximately 25,000 pounds of the toxic substance was spilled. Three workers were injured during the incident, one critically.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice news release, in 2022, Glencore pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $1.1 billion to resolve the government’s investigations into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and a commodity price manipulation scheme.

These guilty pleas are part of coordinated resolutions with criminal and civil authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.

According to federal officials, the charges in the FCPA matter arise out of a decade-long scheme by Glencore and its subsidiaries to make and conceal corrupt payments and bribes through intermediaries for the benefit of foreign officials across multiple countries.

Separately, Glencore Ltd. admitted to engaging in a multi-year scheme to manipulate fuel oil prices at two of the busiest commercial shipping ports, Los Angeles and Houston, in the U.S.

“The scope of this criminal bribery scheme is staggering,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. “Glencore paid bribes to secure oil contracts. Glencore paid bribes to avoid government audits. Glencore bribed judges to make lawsuits disappear. At bottom, Glencore paid bribes to make money — hundreds of millions of dollars. And it did so with the approval, and even encouragement, of its top executives."