14 DAY TRIAL // Back in 2004, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, together with the Washington State and others, decided to file a lawsuit against Teck Resources, a Canadian-based company specializing in metals and mining.
More precisely, they argued that said company needed to be held responsible for having polluted the Columbia River and violating the legislation set in place by the US Superfund, meaning that considerable amounts of mining waste were knowingly discharged in regional water resources and thus allowed to make their way into the American Upper Columbia River.
As those who filed the lawsuit explain, some of the slag improperly managed by Teck Resources' Trail Smelter is still to be found in the aforementioned American water source, which is why the company needs be made to pay for the damage caused to the environment.
Environmental Leader reports that up until now Teck Metals (i.e. one of Teck Resources' subsidiaries) made a case of how Superfund rules and regulations were to only be applied when it came to American businesses.
More precisely, they lack jurisdiction over foreign companies such as itself.
However, it seems that Teck Resources now agreed to strike a deal with said plaintiffs, plead guilty and wait for a federal trial to decide how it was to pay for its deeds.
According to the same source, this upcoming trial is expected to take place in October, when a judge will decide whether or not this metals and mining company is to financially support clean-up costs.
As well as this, the judge is to decide on the company's extent of liability.
In order to help carry on with this trial, environmental scientists and several other specialists have been asked to evaluate the damage done to the Upper Columbia River in the US by Teck Resources' inappropriate management of mining waste.
More information on this topic should soon be made available.