December 28, 2023 | BNN Bloomberg via UVic News
As explained by BNN Bloomberg’s Jordan Fleguel, Swiss-based commodity trading and mining company Glencore has recently acquired the coal business of Canadian giant Teck Resources Limited. This acquisition highlights a slew of environmental concerns, as Teck’s coal mines have been leaching the chemical element selenium into Elk Valley’s watershed for years. UVic’s Calvin Sandborn, quoted in the BNN Bloomberg article, says the Canadian government needs to ensure that Glencore will clean up the selenium levels before approving its acquisition of Teck. If this is not ensured, Sandborn explains, taxpayers could end up being the ones paying for the cleanup, rather than the polluter itself.
Sandborn was the previous director – and current Senior Counsel – of the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre (ELC). The ELC is an externally-funded, non-profit, public interest clinic, which works in partnership with the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Law to provide research and advocacy on environmental issues.
Sandborn has several research articles that can be accessed through the University of Victoria’s institutional repository, UVicSpace! The Copyright and Scholarly Communications Office encourages you to visit UVicSpace to browse and read more from Sandborn.
