SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A federal judge has issued a judgment in favor of Washington state against two gold mining companies over years of water pollution stemming from the Buckhorn Mountain gold mine in Okanogan County.
Judge Rosanna Peterson on Thursday dismissed the companies’ main defenses, writing there was no support for their claims that the state Attorney General’s Office cannot enforce the mine’s Clean Water Act permit.
The State’s lawsuit contended that Crown Resources and Kinross Gold violated the state Clean Water Act by discharging illegal levels of pollutants into creeks in Okanogan County flowing into the Kettle River.
The companies could face millions of dollars in penalties.