Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington State authorities are testing water near the northern border. That's after a Canadian mineral refinery dumped lead and acid into the Columbia River on Wednesday. Correspondent Anna King reports.

Teck Cominco has polluted the Columbia River with industrial chemicals off and on for decades. This time about a pickup truck load of lead and 100 gallons of acid made it through a leaky pipe and into the river.

Curt Hart is spokesman with Washington’s Department of Ecology. He says the lead and hydrofluoric acid could hurt fish, people and wildlife downstream in Washington and Oregon.

Curt Hart: "They don’t break down in the environment. They get down in the sediment they build up and they accumulate and they wind up in the ecosystem. This is something we want to see stopped."

Canada’s Ministry of Environment says the Columbia’s great flow would dilute the harmful chemicals.

Washington Ecology officials are working with their counterparts in Canada to take water samples downstream from the spill. The lead and zinc refinery has been shut down while the investigation continues.