Appellate ruling allows WA environmental lawsuit to proceed against mining companies
Washington can proceed in its legal fight to hold two gold mining companies accountable for violating the Clean Water Act and discharging illegal levels of pollutants into groundwater and creeks in Okanogan County, a three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously Monday.
The panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit says Washington’s case against Crown Resources Corp. and its parent, Kinross Gold USA, Inc., was wrongly dismissed by a lower court. The ruling means the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) will be able to continue litigating against the companies for releasing contaminants, including arsenic and sulfate, from the Buckhorn Mountain gold mine into waterways that flow into the Kettle River and on into the Columbia River, in violation of the Clean Water Act.
“These companies have long fought to evade responsibility for polluting Washington’s water and harming the environment,” Attorney General Nick Brown said. “This significant court win clears the way for our team to continue to enforce federal law to fight pollution and protect wildlife whose survival depends on keeping these damaging contaminants out of our water.”
In May 2020, the AGO sued Crown Resources and Kinross in federal court. A non-profit organization called Okanogan Highlands Alliance filed a similar lawsuit against the companies in April 2020, and in June of that year, the AGO and the non-profit agreed to consolidate the cases.
While the AGO prepared for trial in 2024, Crown and Kinross negotiated a settlement with Okanogan Highlands Alliance to enter a consent decree resolving OHA’s claims.
After the district court entered the consent decree, Crown Resources asked the district court to dismiss Washington’s case on procedural grounds, even though the company had previously agreed the consent decree did not resolve the state’s claims. The district court sided with the companies in February 2025. The Ninth Circuit has now overturned that ruling, reopening the case at the district court level.
Assistant Attorneys General Elizabeth Harris, Timothy Allen, Chris Reitz, and Samuel Yang, Deputy Solicitor General Karl Smith, and Paralegals Joshua Bennett, Virginia Castro, Tricia Kealy, and Leena Vanderwood are handling the case for the state of Washington.
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