B.C. coal miner penalized $269K for toxic runoff poisoning river fish

B.C.'s largest coal mine operator has been hit with a combined $269,000 in environmental penalties for toxic contamination of river systems that has stunted fish development and poisoned waterways used by First Nations communities.

EVR Operations Ltd., which runs four operational coal mines in southeast B.C.'s Elk Valley, received the latest $143,000 sanction on July 29 from Jason Bourgeois, an official with B.C.'s Ministry of Environment and Parks, over elevated levels of selenium and nitrate in nearby rivers. The penalty follows an October 2025 decision that fined EVR $3.6 million for delaying construction of three water treatment facilities and breaching water quality limits 171 times.

The company has a history of major violations. In 2021, EVR was ordered to pay $60 million in fines and court orders for breaching federal fisheries laws after discharging dissolved waste rock laced with selenium and calcite into the Fording River. B.C.'s environment ministry issued a record $16 million penalty in 2023 for polluting the Fording River with nitrate and selenium.

Selenium and nitrate become dangerous pollutants at high concentrations from mining. Toxic selenium builds up in fish over time, changing their behaviour, impairing growth, and leading to deformities and increased mortality. For the Westslope cutthroat trout—a blue-listed species considered genetically pure and especially important for conservation—nitrate reduces embryo development.

Effluent from the Elk Valley mines flows 80 kilometres south down the Fording River into the Koocanusa Reservoir, a lake spanning the B.C.-Montana border. Tom McDonald, chairman of the Coast Salish Kootenai Tribes of Montana, said the pollution has left fish deformed and unable to spawn. "We don't feel comfortable eating the fish there anymore when the fish are missing part of their gill plate," he said.

The July penalties involved 10 breaches of selenium and nitrate water quality limits between April and December 2023, when levels posed medium risk to aquatic life. The penalty was reduced by 60 per cent after the company took corrective steps.