Border Pollution
Case Title: The Trail Smelter Dispute (United States v. Canada)
Facts: A private, Canadian corporation operates a plant which smelts zinc and lead in British Columbia near the US border with the state of Washington. The smelting process releases tons (300 tons per day) of Sulfur dioxide into the air. The SO2 damages the crop of the apple growers in Washington State. The apple growers were prohibited by the law of the time from suing the Canadian company and requested the US government to action.
Pursuant to an agreement between US and Canada (a Convention) it was agreed that a tribunal would be appointed to decide the matter. The tribunal proscribed an extensive study of the existence of any ongoing damage and, if so, what remedy and/or regime should be imposed upon the smelting company.
Issue: Whether the Canadian government has any responsibility to control the activities of a corporation that operates within its territories and may be causing harm to a neighboring sovereign.
Decision: The tribunal found that, under the principles of international law, as well as of the United States, no state has the right to use or permit the use of its territory in such a manner as to cause injury by fumes in or to the territory of another or the properties or person therein, when the case is of serious consequence and the injury is established by clear and convincing evidence.
Opinion: The tribunal based its opinion on the reasoning that it is a fair and reasonable demand on the part of a sovereign that the air over its territory should not be polluted on a great scale by sulphurous acid gas, that he forests on its mountains, be they better or worse, and whatever domestic destruction they may have suffered, should not be further destroyed or threatened by the act of persons beyond its control, that the crops and orchards on its hills should not be endangered from the same source.
