Question Period Note: Impacts to fish from Coal Mines in British Columbia

• Protecting the environment and biodiversity is a priority for our government and we remain committed to the conservation and protection of fish and fish habitat in areas with coal mining.
• My Department is committed to working with Teck Coal Limited to find solutions to impacts on fish and fish habitat, including species at risk, related to coal mining.
• The Westslope Cutthroat Trout Pacific population is a species of special concern listed under the Species at Risk Act in 2010.
• A management plan was finalized in 2017 setting goals and objectives to maintain sustainable population levels and genetic diversity of the species.

• Teck Coal Limited recently reported the deaths of 26 Westslope cutthroat trout in a section of Dry Creek, 600 metres downstream of a water management construction project, at Line Creek Operation in southeastern BC. The mortality is believed to be due to a temporary drop in water levels in the creek associated with the construction work. DFO has been engaged and is investigating the situation.
• Media reported on November 2, 2020, that Environment and Climate Change Canada has ordered Teck Coal Limited to improve the quality of water affected by two of its coal mining operations in the Elk Valley.
• [Information was severed in accordance with the Access to Information Act.]
• On August 19, 2020, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change determined that the Castle Project proposed by Teck Coal Limited warrants designation under the Impact Assessment Act. The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) previously received a designation request from U.S tribal groups for the Castle project on May 21, 2020.
• Key considerations include size of the project, downstream cumulative effects and transboundary effects as well as inability to rely on standard mitigation measures and permitting. As well, the Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Pacific population, a species of special concern listed under the Species at Risk Act in 2010, has also been impacted by previous operations.
• Teck Coal Limited is currently proposing to expand its existing Fording River Operations, a metallurgical coal mine located approximately 29 kilometres north of Elkford, British Columbia. Also, the Castle Project, a new mine, would increase the area of mining operations by less than 50 percent while keeping the coal production capacity at 10 million tonnes of coal per year. The Castle Project is expected to supply all coal for the Fording River Operations by the early 2030s.
• A management plan for the Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Pacific population, was finalized in 2017 setting goals and objectives to maintain sustainable population levels and genetic diversity of the species.
• In 2017, Teck Coal Limited pled guilty to three violations of the federal Fisheries Act for polluting a tributary of the Elk River and was sentenced to pay a $1,425,000 penalty into the federal Environmental Damages Fund, which will help restore fish habitat in British Columbia’s Elk Valley.
• Fording River Operations, the company’s first and largest mine, began production in 1971 and made its first shipment of metallurgical coal in April 1972. Production is expected to continue for a further 43 years.
• Teck Coal Limited operates five steelmaking coal mines in the Elk Valley, four of which are located within 60-kilometres upriver of the town of Elkford. These include the Greenhills, Fording River, Line Creek and Elkview operations.

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