Law360 Canada (January 24, 2023, 6:34 AM EST) -- Appeal by Teck Coal Ltd. and Assessor from two decisions of the Property Assessment Appeal Board of British Columbia (the “Board”) dated June 28, 2021, and November 17, 2021. The applicants were Teck Coal Ltd. (“Teck”) and the Assessor of Area #25 - Northwest (the “Assessor”). The respondents were the Districts of Sparwood and Elkford. The appeal related to the classification of two water treatment facilities (“WTFs”) built and operated by Teck: one WTF was within the permit area of Teck’s Line Creek Mine located in the District of Sparwood; the other WTF was within the permit area of Teck's Fording River Mine located in the District of Elkford. Both WTFs were constructed to address selenium contamination in local watercourses that adversely affected aquatic health and the bio-system. The WTFs treated water runoff from large spoils of overburden (the rock above a coal seam) that were created when the overburden was removed at a mine site to allow access to the coal seam. Teck was required to have and to operate the WTFs by the terms of BC Environment Permit 107517. The applicants submitted that the Board erred in law in determining the WTFs were not “part of the plant” of the coal mines and in classifying the WTFs as Class 6 - business & other....