Environment Canada lays five charges against Teck Coal  

Environment Canada has laid five charges against Teck Coal Limited after the company was alleged to have dumped substances harmful to fish into waters near its Ek Valley operations in southeastern British Columbia, according to multiple media reports. 

The department said the charges for violations of the Fisheries Act stem from an investigation that began in March 2023, CBC reported.  

Canada’s largest diversified miner was slapped with millions in fines last year for infractions at its operations in the province. 

In January Teck was fined C$2.2million ($1.6m) for an acid spill into Columbia River at its Trail smelter operations. A Rossland provincial court judge made the order after the company pleaded guilty to two charges laid under the federal Fisheries Act and one charge laid under the provincial Environmental Management Act. The charges resulted from an effluent release in February 2019. 

In February, the government of British Columbia fined Teck Coal Limited C$15.4 million ($11.3m) for exceeding pollution thresholds and failing to build an active water treatment facility on time at its Fording River Operations in southeastern BC. 

A legal action filed in Montana in May 2023 named Teck Coal Ltd. as one of three defendants in a request for judicial review by environmental groups in Montana and Idaho over levels of a contaminant from its British Columbia mines in US waters. 

On Thursday, the same day of the media reports, Teck announced that it has completed the sale of its remaining 77% interest in its steelmaking coal business to Glencore plc for total cash proceeds of $7.3 billion.