Teck Resources disappointed with court order to pay $8.3M in costs to U.S. tribe
CALGARY — Vancouver-based Teck Resources says it’s “disappointed” with a U.S. District Court ruling ordering it to pay US$8.25 million in legal costs, as part a long-running legal battle over environmental contamination in Washington State.
The company declined to say if it would appeal the latest ruling, but said it’s “reviewing the implications with counsel.”
The ruling filed earlier this month by U.S. District Court Judge Lonny Suko orders the company to cover the legal and investigation costs that the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation have spent trying to prove that Teck contaminated their waterways.
The same judge ruled in 2012 that Teck was liable for costs of cleaning up contamination in the Upper Columbia River. Suko said the company knew for decades that the grainy, heavy-metal-laden byproduct of its Trail, B.C., smelter was flowing 10 kilometres downriver into the U.S., and was likely to cause harm.