Mine Operator Convicted Of Clean Water Act Crimes

Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that James Slade, 57, of Calgary, Canada, was convicted after a two week jury trial of two counts of violating the Federal Clean Water Act by polluting the Salmon River with turbid wastewater from the Platinum Creek Mine he was in charge of operating.  A sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 12, 2015, and Mr. Slade was ordered to surrender his Canadian passport and remain in the United States pending his sentencing.

Evidence was presented at trial that the discharges from the mine were hundreds of times over the legal limits set in the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) water quality permit issued for the mine.  The jury deliberated for two days before convicting the defendant of two misdemeanor Clean Water Act crimes for discharging polluted wastewater during the 2010 and 2011 mining seasons in violation of the NPDES permit.  The jury was deadlocked and could not reach a decision on several felony violations, and found the defendant not guilty on other charges, including finding him not guilty of making a false annual report to the Alaska Department of Conservation that was submitted by another senior manager.  That manager, Robert Pate, has previously pleaded guilty to making that false statement.

The Salmon River is located in Western Alaska, running past the Platinum Creek Mine and emptying into Kuskokwim Bay.  It passes through the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge before entering the bay, and all five species of Alaska Salmon spawn in the river.  Evidence at trial was that a flow of up to 1200 gallons per minute of wastewater was discharged from the mine’s processing plant into one or more settling ponds that were not lined, and that did not contain the wastewater.  Instead, the wastewater flowed out of the ponds and into the Salmon River, turning it from crystal clear to dirty brown.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Feldis prosecuted the case with a Chris Costantini, as Senior Trial Attorney from the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section.  Mr. Feldis stated that “the state and federal agencies that have a role in permitting and approving mining in Alaska rely on those who operate mines, as they rely on any permitted business that operates in remote locations, to self-report when they violate the law.  That did not happen in this case.  The mine said it was going to do one thing when it submitted its Mine Plan of Operations, and it ended up doing something very different.  Federal Agents from the Bureau of Land Management and the Environmental Protection Agency conducted an excellent investigation in this case.  Mr. Slade and the company he worked for are no longer mining, and there is no longer any pollution entering the Salmon River.”

Mr. Slade was the Chief Operating Officer for XS Platinum, the company that owned the mining claims, and he is the third manager or senior executive of that company to be convicted in this case.  Robert Pate, who was employed as the mine manager previously pled guilty to violating the Clean Water Act, along with James Staeheli, the prior processing plant manager, who also pled guilty to a Clean Water Act crime.  All three individuals worked for the now defunct XS Platinum, Inc.   That company was registered in name only in Delaware, and was 100% owned by an offshore company.  Two other senior executives from XS Platinum, both Australian citizens, were also indicted but have refused to return to the United States to stand trial on the charges.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management Office of Law Enforcement and Security, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division.  Mr. Slade faces maximum penalties of one year in jail and a $100,000 fine for each of the two counts of conviction.