Pollution from B.C. Teck mining operations might be taken up during Trudeau-Biden meet today

Pollution from Teck's mining operations in southeastern B.C. is expected to be on the table as U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today in Ottawa.

Biden is expected to add his clout to calls from Indigenous leaders, experts and activists on both sides of the border for a bilateral investigation into toxic run-off threatening the Kootenay River basin.

A long-standing treaty governing the management of cross-border waterways requires both Canada and the U.S. to agree to send the problem to a commission capable of addressing it but so far Canada has avoided signing off on any probe.

A University of Montana research scientist who specializes in Canada-U.S. transboundary rivers, says referral to a commission would allow both governments to have a hand in the process and she predicts Biden will urge Canadian officials to take that step.