"Tribe Files Suit Against Teck Cominco in Lake Roosevelt Dispute." E&MJ: Engineering & Mining Journal. 205.8 (Aug 2004):4.
Summary
In July of 2004, the Colville Confederated Tribes filed a lawsuit against Teck Cominco, a Canadian company, “to enforce an administrative order issued six months ago by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).” Teck Cominco and the EPA disagree over which methods to use to study the impact in Washington of past slag discharges from Teck Cominco's Trail, B.C., lead-zinc smelter, specifically in Lake Roosevelt on the Columbia River. The slag in the lake is a health and ecological concern for those nearby, such as the Colville Confederated Tribes.
Neither Teck Cominco nor the Canadian government agrees to submit to the authority of the EPA in regard to activity going on in Canada. Teck Cominco argues that it is concerned about the environmental impact of its smelter on the Columbia River. Senior vice president Doug Horswill said, “This suit will result in time and money being wasted on litigation, which could best be used to address the public's environmental concerns regarding Lake Roosevelt.” He also reported the company's monetary contributions to independent studies on the Columbia River and to clean up efforts. Teck Cominco's position is that they have done a lot to clean up their act and that in the long run, it would be more beneficial for the river and those who live around it if everyone involved committed their time and money to environmental efforts rather than litigation. Despite their adamant stance against this lawsuit, they express a commitment to working with the Canadian and U.S. authorities.
Critique
This is an interesting case because it deals with two federal governments with two different sets of regulations. This problem is reminiscent of a common political science problem in game theory which is commonly referred to as “down stream.” In this problem, the upstream parties will pollute as much as they want because they do not suffer the consequences while the downstream players will incur the extra costs of clean up because they do not like the consequences. Without some form of organization, the parties will continue to coexist like this because the downstream players cannot retaliate by polluting back as they would only be hurting themselves.
In this particular case, if Teck Cominco is honest about the improvements they have made to more environmentally friendly, I believe they have a good point that this litigation could be a waste of money that would be better spent toward more direct clean up efforts. Much of the environmental damage that the company caused occurred for many years before the administrative order came into existence. It does not seem appropriate to hold Teck Cominco responsible for violations that they committed before there was an order to violate.
On the other hand, it is important that the U.S. and Canadian governments work together to find a common solution to dealing with these international environmental issues. Hopefully this case can encourage the two governments to create an official way of dealing with similar problems that is agreeable to both nations.
(reviewed by Julie Krogh)Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon
HC 441: Science Colloquium, Columbia River Ecology
Fall term, 2005
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