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By Jim Robbins
PABLO, Mont. —In the mountain streams of southern British Columbia and northern Montana, a rugged world, fish with misshapen skulls and twisted spines have been caught over the years.
Many scientists characterize the deformed creatures and the decline of some fish populations to five large open-pit coal mines that disrupt this wild landscape of dense forest populated by grizzly bears and wolves.
For decades, those mines owned by Teck Resources, a multinational mining company founded in Canada, have been the subject of environmental considerations because of chemicals such as selenium, a mining waste, which seeps into mountain rivers through indigenous lands and crosses the border into U. S. waterways. U. S.
Selenium is an herbal chemical found in the surrounding area as a key element. But selenium pollutants have long been identified as an incredibly harmful byproduct of coal mining. At higher concentrations, the chemical accumulates in the eggs and reproductive organs of fish and birds, and can cause a variety of adverse effects, adding reduced reproduction, malformations, and death. The threat to human health from eating infected fish is not well understood.
Teck has continually challenged state and federal regulatory criteria on what deserves to be considered safe levels of selenium in waterways. And those barriers differ for lakes and rivers and between countries, complicating follow-up efforts.
The most recent case comes to Montana and Idaho, where environmentalists’ lawsuits are campaigning over the grades Montana set for Lake Koocanusa in 2020. Its status is being questioned as a debate rages over transboundary waterway pollutants, a component of the war between regulators, tribal nations and scientists opposed to Teck over whether the degrees pose a danger to aquatic life.
In a 2020 letter to the journal Science, an organization of scientists warned about transboundary contaminants from Canadian mines and criticized what they and others attributed to a lack of regulatory oversight.
They suggested that the Canadian and U. S. governments If the U. S. participates in bilateral negotiations, through the International Joint Commission, previous calls have not been heeded.
In March, President Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada pledged to reach an agreement by this summer to mitigate water pollutants in the Elk-Kootenay Basin. And Canadian officials say they are in talks to establish a bilateral procedure in the coming months.
With regard to the Montana standard, Teck took into account state levels, which are more restrictive than US standards. “Extensive and ongoing monitoring confirms that selenium concentrations in the Koocanusa Reservoir are safe, expanding, and have been robust since 2012, and do not pose a threat to aquatic or human health,” said Teck spokesman Chris Stannell.
In its annual report for 2022, the company said it continues to “engage with U. S. regulators. “”We need to work on appropriate clinical criteria for the reservoir. “And the company also noted that there are other lakes in Montana with high levels of naturally occurring selenium.
Montana scientists, however, are not satisfied with Teck’s evidence or claims about the grades of the lake, which crosses the foreign border. Selenium levels in the Kootenai River have not decreased, environmentalists said.
At the site where the Kootenai River empties into Lake Koocanusa in Canada, grades have risen far beyond measurements, said Erin Sexton, a senior scientist at the University of Montana’s Yellow Bay Biological Station at Flathead Lake.
The provincial government says there are “robust monitoring and evaluation systems” that have detected no effects.
The environmentalists’ lawsuit seeks to maintain Montana’s more restrictive standard, which has been criticized by Republican-led lawmakers and some state company officials.
The Selenium Point in U. S. RiversUU. es 1. 5 micrograms per liter in lakes and 3. 1 in flowing rivers. Montana’s popular for Lake Koocanusa, after six years of research, was set at 0. 8. The coverage point for aquatic life in British Columbia is 2.
When it rains or the snow melts, the mine’s barren rock releases selenium into waterways. Selenium levels in the Fording and Elk Rivers in British Columbia near the mines have reached levels several times higher than provincial standards. A population of genetically natural cutthroat trout in the Fording River was decimated in 2019. According to an assessment of the incident through the company.
In 2021, Teck fined a record $60 million under the Canada Fisheries Act for dumping selenium into the Ford River.
The Elk River flows 140 miles from its source until it enters Lake Koocanusa, created through the Kootenai River Dam, which straddles the border. The lake becomes the Kootenai River downstream of Libthrough Dam in Montana and Idaho, and flows north to Kootenai Lake in British Columbia. Finally, it flows into the Columbia River.
Unlike an oil spill, the effects of high selenium levels do not result in large amounts of fish appearing abdominal in the water. In contrast, selenium poisoning reduces the number of fish by causing death in the larval stage.
“It’s a nasty pollutant because it causes deformities of the reproductive organs,” Ms. Sexton said. “They call it an invisible pollutant because they don’t grow. You don’t find eggs that don’t hatch. “
U. S. and tribal officials argue that the presence of chemical contaminants from mining violates the 1909 International Boundary Waters Treaty. Tribal leaders in the United States say it could be infringing on their rights under the 1855 treaty, which guarantees “the catch of fish in all customary and customary places. “
But the B. C. government has continued to oppose efforts to address the situation, according to Montana officials.
Sexton said part of the problem is that the province of B. C. It allows industries, adding mining companies, to largely monitor themselves and be offering evidence produced through their own scientists.
Stannell said the company had spent $1. 2 billion on wastewater treatment near the mines and planned to spend another $750 million to improve water quality in the coming years.
Coal mining in this Canadian province began more than a century ago, strategies were replaced in the 1980s, when underground mining was largely abandoned by open-pit mining.
High-quality metallurgical coal is mined with an approach called cross-valley filling, similar to the mountaintop mining strategy used in West Virginia and some other states. Explosive rates blow up mountaintops, wearing away swaths of a mountain range, to reveal rich coal deposits. Giant shovels and massive 550-ton trucks sell extract the coal, which is transported by rail to Vancouver and then shipped to Asia, where it is indispensable for steelmaking.
According to experts, other mining-like pollutants, partly from the extensive use of explosives in blasting, come with cadmium, sulfates and nitrates.
Teck’s open-pit mines produce more than 21 million metric tons of coal annually. Research published last year through B. C. The Chamber of Commerce estimated that the company generated about 13,000 jobs in the province and $4. 6 billion to its gross national product.
The company will expand one of its mines.
Calvin Sandborn, legal director of the University of Victoria’s Centre for Environmental Law and one of the authors of a 2021 report, accused the governments of British Columbia and Canada of intentionally failing Teck.
“If they had acted on their scientists’ warnings over the years, they would have this constant problem,” M said. Sandborn. ” And they didn’t because it’s too big a company to file for bankruptcy. “
According to the Elk Valley Water Quality Plan, British Columbia allows Teck to continue operating its mines as long as it stabilizes selenium levels and reduces them after 2030.
Scientists worry that existing mines could simply pollute rivers for centuries. And some don’t exist to remove enough selenium from rivers or groundwater to succeed at safe levels. Sexton said Teck can do more to seal contaminants in the barren rock.
Critics of government policies point out that when John Horgan stepped down as British Columbia’s premier in 2022, he was a board member of Elk Valley Resources, a Teck Coal spin-off created to manage mineral resources. According to BIV, a publication that covers businesses in British Columbia, board members are paid at least $235,000 a year.
Environment and Climate Change Strategy Canada did not directly respond to questions calling for a reaction to allegations that government oversight of the mining giant is insufficient or lax.
“We are pleased that Canada and the United States have committed to working together to lessen and mitigate the effects of water quality issues,” said David Karn, a spokesman for the agency. “Protecting and improving water quality is a key priority and, through our regulatory activities, we continue to adopt and oversee projects to protect water quality in the Elk River Valley and Koocanusa Reservoir.
New policies for indigenous peoples and conservationists in both countries will soon arrive.
Mining in the classic lands of the Kootenai, other people (known as Ktunaxa in British Columbia) has a long-standing problem. “More than a century of mountaintop mining has devastated the classic territory of the Ktunaka Nation, polluting the Kootenay River and the fish that depend on it,” the governments of the six tribal countries said.
“Our local fishery is incredibly vital to us,” said Tom McDonald, president of the confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes at their Montana headquarters and a fisheries biologist. “For us, water is almost holy water. It is very sacred. “
“If you catch a fish and it’s missing the gill plate or its jaw is deformed, are you going to eat it?” said McDonald. No, I won’t. When you lose that ability to fish, you disconnect from your culture. It takes everything away from other people: their society, their sense of belonging, their network, and their family. It’s an overcapture.
The Kootenai/Ktunaxa tribes have worked to improve water quality and fisheries in their territory. The Kootenai Band of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, has a long-term program to repair the lota on the Kootenai River. The long, eel-like fish, known for its scaly white flesh, is vital for subsistence fishing, and nearly disappeared before the tribe built a hatchery to raise fish and reintroduce them into the river. Now, selenium has been discovered in fish there.
Whitefish populations downstream of the Libthrough Dam, which created Lake Koocanusa, have declined particularly in recent years. Monitoring in 2018 found that populations, which are 700 fish in 1,000 feet, had declined 53 percent in 2018 and 55 percent in 2023. High levels of selenium, above state and U. S. limits, have been found in fish eggs and ovaries.
Selenium from the mines “is causing the decline,” said Jim Dunnigan, a fisheries biologist with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, who studies the contamination. “This is a source of great concern. “
Wyatt Petryshen of Wildsight, the Canadian environmental organization that oversees Teck’s operations, said environmentalists are involved in Teck’s recent moves to split its operations into Teck Metals Corp. and Elk Valley Resources, which will own the mining operation.
“There are very genuine considerations that Teck is looking to separate from the company to avoid paying for environmental damages while keeping money from its steel mining business,” Petryshen said.
Sheila Murray, Teck’s chairman, championed the change, saying it would be more successful for shareholders and “support a sustainable long-term benefits for employees, local communities and indigenous peoples. “
U. S. officials and advocates The U. S. Food and Drug Administration said the International Joint Commission, the bilateral body, would be the authority to seek tactics to engage and reduce mining contaminants. “We want a clinical advisory board made up of American and Canadian scientists,” Dr. Sandborn said. “We want to pass this on to the International Joint Commission so we have a proper watchdog. “
Jennifer Savage, a spokeswoman for the U. S. State Department, which oversees the U. S. role. Speaking at the commission, she said she has the foreign framework to address the issue quickly.
“Indigenous communities along the basin count on those waters for survival and cultural survival,” said Savage, director of the department’s office of Canadian affairs. “We can’t wait. We are looking for a solution. “
An earlier edition of this article wrongly attributed the cause, at least in part, to a mass mortality of cutthroat trout in the Ford River. There is no evidence in this case that selenium played a role, according to an assessment of the incident through Teck Resources, the mining company. In addition, the article distorted the company’s mining claims. Elk River: They were stuck in Canada, not Montana.
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