SEATTLE (August 6, 2024) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that Teck Alaska, Incorporated, the operator of Red Dog Mine near Kotzebue, Alaska has agreed to pay $429,794 in penalties for violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act when it treated and stored hazardous waste without a permit between October 1, 2019 and January 15, 2024. 

As one of the world’s largest zinc and lead mines, Red Dog generates significant quantities of hazardous wastes that the company is required to manage consistent with the requirements of RCRA, the federal hazardous waste governing hazardous waste management.

EPA investigators also found that during the same time period that the company failed to determine the hazardous characteristics of waste generated in its laboratory, which increased the likelihood that hazardous waste would be improperly managed and that not all the hazards would be identified prior to determining suitable treatment or disposal methods.

RCRA provides “cradle-to-grave” control of solid and hazardous waste by establishing management requirements for generators and transporters of hazardous waste and for owners and operators of hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities.

“From generation to disposal, hazardous wastes must be dealt with in strict accordance with the law,” said Ed Kowalski, Director of EPA Region 10’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. “Teck is an enormous operation with the resources to do things the right way, and we expect this enforcement action will result in full compliance from now on.”