A British Columbia provincial court ordered Teck to pay the money to the province’s Environmental Damages Fund for fish conservation and protection in the East Kootenay River drainage.
The case stems from a 2014 incident at Teck’s Line Creek coal mine about 80 miles north of Eureka in the Elk River drainage.
“The fish kill was of enormous interest for all of us who track the river system,” said Erin Sexton, a research scientist at the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station.
Sexton said Montana studies in Lake Koocanusa have found elevated levels of selenium, from the Canadian mines, south of the border.
Robin Sheremeta, Teck senior vice president for coal, said in a statement released Thursday that the company had improved its monitoring systems and built an effluent buffer pond to prevent future releases.
“From the outset we took full responsibility for this incident and recognize that we need to do better,” Sheremeta wrote in the statement.
Wildsight Executive Director Robyn Duncan said cleaning up the mine pollution involved more than a specific fish kill.