Washinton, USA (GLOBE-Net) - The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition filed by Canadian mining giant Teck Cominco Metals which followed a series of decisions from lower courts that consistently ruled against the company.  In rejecting Teck’s request for review, the Court let stand the federal appeals court decision that the Canadian company must comply with U.S. laws that hold polluters accountable for the contamination they create within the United States.  This ruling could have major implications for companies involved in projects that have cross border environmental impacts.

Teck, headquartered in Vancouver, appealed to the Supreme Court in an effort to block a lawsuit by two members of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington state who contended that pollution from the company’s lead and zinc smelter in Trail, British Columbia, had flowed into and contaminated the Columbia River in the United States.

The state of Washington joined the lawsuit, which was brought under a U.S. law called the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (the Superfund law).

Last year a federal appeals court ruled Teck could have to pay up to $1-billion under the U.S. Superfund law for its share of the cost to clean up Lake Roosevelt, a 240-kilometre stretch of the upper Columbia River behind Grand Coulee Dam.

For nearly a century, sand-like slag was discharged from Teck’s smelter into the river and became sediment in Lake Roosevelt in Washington State when the reservoir was created with the building of the Grand Coulee Dam in 1941. The smelter, which opened in 1892, is still in operation however the company stopped slag discharges into the river in 1994. The smelter is located about 16 km north of the U.S. border. 

During this time Teck remained compliant with Canadian environmental law.

The appeals court "has decided that American environmental laws can be applied to the activities of a foreign company in a foreign country in compliance with that country’s laws," Teck said in its appeal that argued that the ruling was wrong.

U.S. and Canadian business interests, as well as the British Columbia government, urged the court to re-examine the case. Left untouched, the appeals court ruling would complicate international relations and affect trade, they said in several briefs in support of Teck Cominco.

The company asked the Supreme Court to overturn the appeals court ruling, arguing that the Superfund law doesn’t apply to a Canadian company discharging hazardous waste unless it "arranged" for the contamination to end up in the United States.  Teck contests that the pollution resulted from an "action of nature" - the southward flow of the river from Canada into the United States.

U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement said that for decades the company discharged millions of tonnes of hazardous substances into the river just north of the border. Clement suggests Teck had the foresight to realize the contamination would occur and says "it was inevitable that the river would carry the pollution directly into the United States."

Bush administration lawyers suggested the Supreme Court should reject the appeal and said the appeals court decision lacked sufficient importance to warrant Supreme Court review at this time, and the situation does not threaten to disrupt U.S. ties with Canada.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the company’s appeal in a brief order issued without any comment or recorded dissent.

Virgil Seymour, a member of the local Colville Tribe’s business council, said he was pleased with the top court’s decision. "As the case now stands, the courts have ruled that the U.S. has jurisdiction over Teck Cominco under the United States’ Superfund law for the pollution it created in the U.S," Seymour said.

Teck Cominco will now defend itself in the federal court in eastern Washington state where the lawsuit will now go forward. "We remain confident in our defense," said Doug Horswill, Teck’s vice president for the environment.

"Teck Cominco American will continue to fulfill its obligations under a settlement agreement reached with the U.S. and the EPA in June 2006 and complete a voluntary Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study ("RI/FS") to determine if any risks to human health and the environment result from past releases from Teck Cominco Metals’ refinery at Trail, British Columbia," he said in a statement released following the Court’s decision.

The RI/FS is scheduled for completion in 2011.

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For More Information: Reuters
Source 2: Canadian Press