A Supreme Court judgment released this month outlines there are three separate charges relating to each of five waterbodies — three creeks and two lakes, including Quesnel Lake
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A B.C. Supreme Court judge has dismissed an attempt by the owners of the Mount Polley mine and its engineering consultants to cut the number of federal charges it faces over the catastrophic collapse of a dam in 2014.
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The collapse of the earth-and-rock dam at the gold-and-copper mine in B.C.’s Interior released 25 million cubic metres of water and tailings containing potentially toxic metals. It was enough water and material to fill nearly 9,800 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
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Charges weren’t filed until a decade later, in 2024, when Environment and Climate Change Canada announced 15 charges against parent company Imperial Metals Corp., Mount Polley Mining Corp., and engineering and consulting firm Wood Canada Ltd., for contraventions of the Fisheries Act.
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FP West: Energy Insider
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A Supreme Court judgment released this month outlines there are three separate charges relating to each of five waterbodies — three creeks and two lakes, including Quesnel Lake.
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The three separate charges relate to the release of the contents of the wastewater storage facility into the waterbodies, the dam embankment and work by the companies that resulted in harm to fish and fish habitat.
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The companies had argued the charges were duplicative and there should only be a single charge of depositing the tailings storage contents and a single charge of carrying out work that resulted in harm.
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In convictions, multiple counts can increase the total amount of penalties.
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B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Maisonville disagreed with the companies’ argument.
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“First, the five separate waterbodies are distinct from each other in makeup, location and in the species they contain. Second, the charges are distinct and not duplicative. Nor has the Crown exercised its discretion improperly in laying charges … Finally, there is no prejudice to the accused by reason of the separate counts,” wrote Maisonville in her decision.
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In rejecting the companies’ argument, the judge cited another case that noted a person who threw a bomb into a crowded space would have to answer for the multiple injuries and deaths that might result.
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The companies had argued that charges were duplicative because they alleged the same offence for the same conduct and all linked back to the collapse of the dam. The companies also referred to the area as the Quesnel River watershed, rather than as five separate water bodies named in the charges.
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After the collapse, Imperial Metals rebuilt the dam and was allowed by the province to restart production two years later.
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At the time, the Aug. 4, 2014, collapse was one of the largest mining-dam failures in the world in the past 50 years.
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The release of tailings and water from the dam collapse scoured nine kilometres of Hazeltine Creek, where trout and coho salmon spawned and dumped much of the tailings into Quesnel Lake.
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Studies on the effect of the spill are expected to continue for years.
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Imperial Metals has spent $71 million on rehabilitation work, including on Hazeltine Creek.
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