On October 5, 2017 Teck Coal Limited ("Teck") in
British Columbia court pled guilty to three counts of contravening
the Fisheries Act for discharging a deleterious substance,
namely selenium, into a tributary of the Elk River frequented by
fish.
On October 16, 2014, approximately 45 dead fish were discovered
in Line Creek which is located near one of Teck's coal mines in
the region. The day after the discovery of the dead fish
Environment Canada investigators discovered that waste water from
Teck's water treatment plant was directly entering Line
Creek.
The water treatment plant was constructed to specifically deal
with selenium pollution. Selenium, while naturally occurring can be
harmful in small amounts and is a produced by coal, uranium and
bitumen extraction. The approximately $600 million water treatment
plant had only been in operation for a period of four months when
the discharge occurred. The purpose of the water treatment plant
was to resolve concerns
