Colville tribes can sue Canadian mining firm

A Canadian mining company that dumped waste into the Columbia River just north of the U.S. border is liable for pollution cleanup under the federal Superfund law, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday.

Teck Cominco's smelter in Trail, B.C., is the source of much of the pollution in Lake Roosevelt, the portion of the Columbia that backs up behind the Grand Coulee Dam, according to a study by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The high court, without comment, upheld an appellate court's decision allowing members of the Colville Confederated Tribes to sue Teck Cominco in federal court. They are seeking to enforce an order issued by the Environmental Protection Agency requiring Teck Cominco to start a study of the contamination under the agency's Superfund program.

The EPA later agreed to hold off enforcing its 2003 order when the mining company agreed to pay for studies of the pollution that the company says could cost $20 million.

Environmentalists and tribal members objected because the company was allowed to do the work outside the normal Superfund process, which tribes and environmentalists say better preserves their ability to keep track of and influence the eventual cleanup.

The case has been closely watched by tribes, companies doing business near the border and others because it appears to be the first time the EPA has issued a unilateral cleanup order to a Canadian firm.

Most of the dumping ended in the mid-1990s.