Teck, EPA at loggerheads

Talks have broken off between enforcement staff of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Teck Cominco (TEK-T), after the EPA refused an offer from the company to fund environmental site evaluations in the Roosevelt Lake area of Washington state.

The area, down the Columbia River from Teck’s Trail, B.C. smelter, contains accumulations of slag from the smelter that were dumped into the river in earlier years. The EPA had issued a draft administrative order that would have compelled Teck to fund EPA-directed studies on the contamination, costing between US$5 million and US$10 million annually for about four years. Teck Cominco had offered US$13 million toward studies of the area.

The EPA said it was considering designating Roosevelt Lake under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, the “Superfund” legislation that makes federal government funds available for environmental cleanups. Teck’s position was that the act could not be applied to a company domiciled outside the U.S.