{"id":105480,"date":"2026-06-05T14:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=105480"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:57:14","slug":"texas-company-to-pay-b-c-first-nation-12m-over-2016-tugboat-spill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/texas-company-to-pay-b-c-first-nation-12m-over-2016-tugboat-spill\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas company to pay B.C. First Nation $12M over 2016 tugboat spill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A British Columbia First Nation says a Texas company has agreed to pay more than $12 million in the first portion of a &#8220;multi-part settlement&#8221; after a grounded tugboat spilled about 110,000 litres of pollutants in central coast waters in 2016. The Tribal Council at the Heiltsuk Nation says in a notice to members on Facebook this week that the deal involves parties including Houston-based liquid marine transport operator Kirby Corp. The statement says Kirby has agreed to pay the Heiltsuk Nation after a court order is issued later this year, as well as to attend a washing ceremony in Bella Bella, B.C. Kirby has also agreed that its vessels will no longer travel through Heiltsuk waters without prior consent. The deal comes after the tugboat Nathan E. Stewart ran&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F05%2Ftexas-company-to-pay-b-c-first-nation-12m-over-2016-tugboat-spill%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A British Columbia First Nation says a Texas company has agreed to pay more than $12 million in the first portion of a &#8220;multi-part settlement&#8221; after a grounded tugboat spilled about 110,000 litres of pollutants in central coast waters in 2016. The Tribal Council at the Heiltsuk Nation says in a notice to members on Facebook this week that the deal involves parties including Houston-based liquid marine transport operator Kirby Corp. The statement says Kirby has agreed to pay the Heiltsuk Nation after a court order is issued later this year, as well as to attend a washing ceremony in Bella Bella, B.C. Kirby has also agreed that its vessels will no longer travel through Heiltsuk waters without prior consent. The deal comes after the tugboat Nathan E. Stewart ran... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F05%2Ftexas-company-to-pay-b-c-first-nation-12m-over-2016-tugboat-spill%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Texas company to pay B.C. First Nation $12M over 2016 tugboat spill - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/texas-company-to-pay-b-c-first-nation-12m-over-2016-tugboat-spill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas company to pay B.C. First Nation $12M over 2016 tugboat spill - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A British Columbia First Nation says a Texas company has agreed to pay more than $12 million in the first portion of a &#8220;multi-part settlement&#8221; after a grounded tugboat spilled about 110,000 litres of pollutants in central coast waters in 2016. The Tribal Council at the Heiltsuk Nation says in a notice to members on Facebook this week that the deal involves parties including Houston-based liquid marine transport operator Kirby Corp. The statement says Kirby has agreed to pay the Heiltsuk Nation after a court order is issued later this year, as well as to attend a washing ceremony in Bella Bella, B.C. Kirby has also agreed that its vessels will no longer travel through Heiltsuk waters without prior consent. The deal comes after the tugboat Nathan E. Stewart ran\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/texas-company-to-pay-b-c-first-nation-12m-over-2016-tugboat-spill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-05T18:57:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05\\\/texas-company-to-pay-b-c-first-nation-12m-over-2016-tugboat-spill\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05\\\/texas-company-to-pay-b-c-first-nation-12m-over-2016-tugboat-spill\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Texas company to pay B.C. 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