Washington AG Succeeded in Lawsuit Against Gold Mining Companies Over Water Pollution Discharges

MAY 7, 2020

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit in federal court against two gold mining companies, Crown Resources and Kinross Gold, over Clean Water Act and state law violations that occurred at the companies’ Buckhorn Mountain gold mine in northern Washington. The complaint alleged that the companies violated the provisions of the mine’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and the state’s Water Pollution Control Act by discharging heavy metals and other pollutants into “both ground and surface waters in and around the Buckhorn Mine site.”

The companies argued that the AG Office cannot enforce all of the conditions in the mine’s Clean Water Act permit, but in a June 17, 2021 summary judgment, a District Court judge dismissed this defense and determined that the companies had violated their permit by discharging aluminum, ammonia, arsenic, lead, and other contaminants into groundwater.

On October 20, 2022, a federal judge issued an order finding partial liability, ruling that Crown Resources “committed thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act in its operation of the Buckhorn Mountain gold mine in Okanogan County.”