A B.C. coal mining company in northeastern B.C. has been fined more than $45,000 for repeated violations of the province’s environmental protection rules, including the failure to monitor mine waste into fish-bearing water and failure to limit particulate being put into the air.
Conuma Resources Limited is a metallurgical coal mining company operating in the Tumbler Ridge area in northeastern B.C., roughly 660 kilometres directly northeast of Vancouver.
It mines coal from to produce carbon used in steelmaking at three different sites in the region, employing approximately 900 people.
In documents posted online, the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change argued the company repeatedly and knowingly failed to comply with environmental regulations, limiting the amount of particulate put into the air by mining operations, and failed to monitor waste water put into local waterways on more than 400 separate occasions.
When does the government step in, shut down the company, and sell the assets to another firm?
Clearly, this company is irresponsible and cannot follow the law. You don’t have to shut down the operation and have people lose their jobs, but don’t let the company keep operating