Jan. 8

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear arguments by a Canadian mining company that contends it should not be liable under U.S. law for contamination that crossed the border.

Teck Cominco Ltd., of Vancouver, asked the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court decision that found the company could be sued under the Superfund law for polluting the Columbia River in Washington state. The Supreme Court announced Jan. 7 that it would not hear arguments in the case, allowing the appeals court decision to stand.

The decision involves a pending lawsuit filed against the mining company by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. The American Indian tribes have sued the company for pollution in the Columbia River that allegedly came from Teck Cominco´s smelter in British Columbia, only a few miles north of the U.S. border. For nearly 100 years, Teck Cominco´s smelter discharged more than 20 million tons of slag and wastes that contained metals like lead, zinc, mercury, arsenic and other toxins, according to the tribes.

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, but it has been delayed as the company has sought to have the case dismissed. The Supreme Court´s Jan. 7 decision, however, clears the way for the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to remand the case to the district court for further proceedings.

Teck Cominco and the EPA in 2006 signed a private settlement agreement to investigate the contamination in the upper Columbia River, but the Indians of the Colville Reservation are pursing their own lawsuit. The tribes lack confidence in the EPA agreement and wants additional information about the extent of the contamination and the impact it might have on tribal members, said Virgil Seymour, a spokesman for the tribal business council.

"The tribe looks forward to continuing this case and will do everything we can to force Teck Cominco to accept its responsibilities under U.S. law," Seymour said.

The Colville Reservation covers about 1.4 million acres of land in Washington.

Under the agreement reached with the EPA, Teck Cominco Ltd. agreed to put $20 million in escrow to assure funding of a multiyear study to determine the scope of contamination in the Columbia River and Lake Roosevelt in northeast Washington.

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