Supreme Court Declines Review of Superfund Ruling against Canadian Mining Giant

Date: January 7, 2008

Source: News Room

In a closely watched case, the US Supreme Court declined to intervene in a case involving Canadian mining giant Teck Cominco which has been held subject to U.S. Superfund law for polluting the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that the company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, would have to pay a share of an estimated $1 billion to clean up Lake Roosevelt, a 150-mile stretch of the upper Columbia River behind the Grand Coulee Dam. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has charged that for nearly 90 years, the company's lead and zinc smelter complex 10 miles north of the US border leached heavy metals and slag into the river. Teck Cominco asked the justices to overturn the appeals court ruling, arguing that US Superfund law does not apply to a Canadian company discharging hazardous waste unless it had "arranged" for the contamination to end up in the United States.

The case is Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd., v. Pakootas, 06-1188.

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