Imperial Metals wants evidence from a trial on the responsibility for the Mount Polley mine dam failure to be considered in a prosecutorial decision by Canada against the company for potential environmental damage charges relating to the breach.
In a petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Aug. 19, Imperial Metals says the evidence of former-British Columbia chief inspector of mines Al Hoffman is of “fundamental importance” to establishing whether there is any reasonable prospect of securing a conviction against the company under the federal Fisheries Act, and whether it is in the public interest to launch such a prosecution.
The mining company has asked for the court’s permission to use Hoffman’s evidence and related B.C. government responses collected during the discovery stage, information normally only to be used in the lawsuit for which it is gathered.
In its petition to the court, Imperial Metals’ lawyer Gavin Cameron wrote that Hoffman testified regarding the “lack of foreseeability of the failure of the (Mount Polley mine waste dam) to both the regulator and (Imperial Metals).”
The petition notes that where there has been due diligence, there can be no conviction. According to the company’s petition, the B.C. government declined to give its voluntary consent to the evidence’s release.
For the rest of this article: https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/imperial-metals-seeks-to-present-evidence-before-decision-on-potential-mt-polley-environmental-prosecution