Fifteen charges under the federal Fisheries Act have been laid against Imperial Metals Corp. and two other firms more than a decade after a tailings pond collapsed the Mount Polley mine, spilling more than 20 million cubic metres of waste water into B.C. Interior waterways.
A statement from the B.C. Conservation Officer Service issued Tuesday says it worked with the Department of Fisheries and Environment and Climate Change Canada to investigate possible contraventions of the act.
“These agencies have been working together as the Mount Polley Integration Investigation Task Force,” the service says.
The indictment filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Dec. 6 was signed by director of public prosecutions George Dolhai in Ottawa and outlines the charges against Imperial Metals, Mount Polley Mining and Wood Canada Ltd.
Mount Polley Mining is a subsidiary of Imperial Metals, while Wood Canada is an engineering firm.
The indictment alleges the companies allowed a “deleterious substance” from the mine’s tailings pond into several bodies of water “frequented by fish,” including Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek, Bootjack Creek, Edney Creek and Quesnel Lake.
The indictment alleges the companies’ work at the mine near Likely, B.C. “resulted in serious harm to fish that are part of a commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fishery … namely the death of fish or any permanent alteration to, or destruction of, fish habitat.”
The offences under the Fisheries Act listed in the indictment carry fines between $500,000 and $6,000,000.
Individuals guilty of an offence under the act can be imprisoned for up to three years if they are convicted for a second time, however only companies face charges in connection to the dam’s collapse.
The collapse of the dam at the gold and copper mine is considered one of the largest environmental disasters in provincial history.
A report from an independent expert panel released in 2015 concluded the key reason for the dam’s failure was its design.
It said the engineers didn’t take into account the complexity of the geological environment in relation to the dam embankment foundation.
It says engineers failed to recognize that the dam was “susceptible to undrained failure” when subject to the stresses associated with the embankment.
In 2022, Engineers and Geoscientists B.C., the provincial regulatory and licensing body, fined two former project engineers a combined $226,500, while a third was temporarily suspended and ordered to complete additional training.
The Conservation Officer Service says Mount Polley Mining Corp. and Wood Canada Ltd. face the same charges and all three companies are due to make a court appearance on Dec. 18.
Imperial Metals said in a statement the company received the indictment this week and as the matter is before the courts it won’t be making further comment.
