Teck Trail faces laundry list of environmental charges
By Contributor
Teck Metals Ltd. was notified today of charges under the Fisheries and Environmental Management Acts in relation to four separate incidents at Teck Trail Operations that occurred between November 2013 and July 2014.
In each case, the incidents were immediately reported to the appropriate regulatory agencies, and there was no risk to human health and no indication of any harm to aquatic health or the environment. Daily provincial permit levels were not exceeded.
• November 12, 2013 – Elevated copper in an outfall for approximately 15 minutes resulted in a failure of an acute (pass/fail) toxicity test – two counts under the Fisheries Act, one count under the Environmental Management Act.
• November 28, 2013 – Approximately 150-450 litres of concrete mix entered an outfall during sealing of old pipes – one count under the Fisheries Act.
• January 15, 2014 – Failure of a valve led to approximately 25-33 litres of a 40-per-cent ammonia solution entering an outfall – three counts under the Fisheries Act.
• July 15, 2014 – A brief shutdown of the de-chlorination system due to a localized power outage resulted in elevated chlorine in an outfall for about 50 minutes – one count under the Fisheries Act.
“We take these kinds of incidents very seriously and are committed to learning from them and continually improving our environmental performance,” said Richard Deane, Manager, Environment, Health & Safety and Public Affairs. “All incidents were investigated and additional measures to enhance environmental controls were implemented as a result.
“Over the last 20 years we have made significant investments to improve Trail’s environmental performance, resulting in emissions of metal to air and water being reduced by over 95%.”
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