Fifteen Fisheries Charges Laid a Decade After Mount Polley Disaster in BC

Contents from a tailings pond are pictured going down the Hazeltine Creek into Quesnel Lake near the town of Likely, B.C. on Aug. 5, 2014. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

Fifteen charges under the federal Fisheries Act have been laid against Imperial Metals Corp. and two other firms more than a decade after a tailings pond collapsed the Mount Polley mine, spilling more than 20 million cubic metres of waste water into B.C. Interior waterways.

A statement from the B.C. Conservation Officer Service issued Tuesday says it worked with the Department of Fisheries and Environment and Climate Change Canada to investigate possible contraventions of the act.