Elk Valley Resources fined another $3.6 million dollars for poisoning Elk River
Business Intelligence reports coal miner failed to honour treatment promises
Business Intelligence for B.C., October 8 2025
B.C.’s largest coal mine operator has been penalized more than $3.6 million for delaying construction of three water treatment facilities and breaching water quality limits 171 times.
The seven penalties to Elk Valley Resources Operations Limited (EVR) — formally Teck Coal Limited — span 2018 to 2023 and centre on five coal mining operations in the Elk Valley of southeastern B.C., according to an Oct. 1 decision from director of the Environmental Management Act Jason Bourgeois.
The largest portion of the penalty is for the company’s failure to design, construct and operate three major water treatment facilities by their mandated deadlines.
In 2014, the B.C. government issued a ministerial order requiring the coal miner to follow a unique, area-based strategy intended to stabilize and reverse decades of contamination.
“By the mid-1990s, increasing amounts of selenium and other substances of concern, were found in the waters downstream of coal mines in the Elk Valley,” wrote Bourgeois.
“This changed the water quality in the downstream rivers with potential harm to humans, fish and other life forms that live in and use the water.”
And they wonder why people oppose mining in Canada!