The huge expansion of coal mining proposed in southeast British Columbia–and related expansion of coal shipping facilities in the Port of Vancouver–have run into a snag, namely the dangerous mineral element selenium leaching out of mine sites and contaminating eggs of fish, frogs, birds.
The coal mining plans in the southeast have already stirred opposition in the neighbouring states in the United States. The troubling discovery of the extent of selenium pollution can only deepen the concerns.
There are 12 new coal mines proposed across Brtish Columbia. Several are already facing stiff opposition, notably the Raven Mine on the east coast of Vancouver Island. You can read the full background of proposed coal mine expansion in BC here on the dedicated web page of the Wilderness Committee.
–Roger Annis
River pollution spurs calls for coal ban
By Mark Hume, Globe and Mail, March 22, 2013
Teck Coal Ltd. is facing a massive pollution problem in the Elk Valley, where a metal-like element known as selenium is leaching out of mine sites and collecting in the eggs of fish, frogs and water birds.
Environment Canada has had investigators in the area in southeastern British Columbia collecting samples at mine sites, but Todd Gerhart, a Department of Justice prosecutor, refused to comment on Thursday when asked if charges are being contemplated.
A spokesman for Teck Resources Ltd., the parent company of Teck Coal, referred questions on the investigation to Environment Canada.
Environment Canada was unable to find a spokesman to comment on Wednesday and Thursday.
At high levels, selenium can cause embryonic deformities in fish eggs, leading to sudden population collapse. That threshold hasn’t been reached in the valley, where trout populations appear to be stable. But with selenium levels creeping up in the Elk and Fording rivers, concerns are growing about the environmental impact from a century of coal mining.
“Selenium has significant impact on the reproductive organs, that’s why there is a risk of population collapse,” said John Bergenske, a spokesman for the environmental group Wildsight, which is calling for a moratorium on coal development in the Rocky Mountain watershed near Fernie. See page 44
Mr. Bergenske said selenium pollution has been a concern in the area for years, but the issue came into sharp focus this week when a University of Montana study showed selenium levels are 100 times higher in the Elk River than in the nearby Flathead River, which is in a watershed not touched by coal mining.
Teck responded to questions about selenium pollution with a brief statement saying the company plans to spend $600-million over the next five years on water quality projects. The company also released a selenium action plan it presented to the B.C. government in February.
But Teck’s plan aims for selenium levels that do not meet B.C.’s water quality guidelines.
The province has set the acceptable level of selenium in water at two micrograms per litre. Teck’s action plan proposes “environmental management levels” of 43 micrograms per litre in the Fording River and 17 micrograms per litre in the Elk River. The B.C. standard of two micrograms per litre will be met only in Lake Koocanusa, far downstream from Teck’s five Elk Valley mines.
Chris Stannell, a spokesman for Teck, said in an e-mail the targets for the Fording and Elk rivers “are set at levels that will protect fish in flowing streams, which are much less sensitive to selenium than lake environments.”
“It just doesn’t go far enough,” Sarah Cox, interim director of Sierra Club B.C., said of Teck’s plan. “It is proposing selenium levels … that in U.S. would be illegal.”
B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake said Teck is clearly trying to get the problem under control and is striving to bring selenium levels down throughout the valley.
He said it makes more sense for the government to work with Teck and keep the mines viable while searching for solutions, rather than closing operations.
The company acknowledges in its action plan that “concentrations of selenium have been increasing in the Elk Valley in the rivers and streams that are downstream of Teck’s mining operations.” It states that since the mid-1990s, selenium levels in the Elk River have increased from estimated historical background levels of one microgram per litre to 18 micrograms per litre, and that in some areas, it has climbed to 57 micrograms per litre.
U.S. studies have shown that selenium levels above four micrograms per litre in water can lead to dangerous concentrations in the eggs of fish. Studies in the Elk Valley have found selenium in the eggs of cutthroat trout, frogs and redwinged blackbirds.
No new Elk Valley coal mines until selenium impact resolved, environment minister says
Teck commits $600 million over five years to address water-quality issues
By Gordon Hamilton, Vancouver Sun, March 21, 2013
No new coal mines will be approved in the Elk Valley until the lead company in the region, Teck, develops a valley-wide plan to manage the cumulative effects of selenium concentrations in the Elk River, B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake said Thursday. “I don’t want to say there is a moratorium, but I can tell you that any applications will have to be considered in context of the development of a plan, if not the finalization of a plan,” Lake said.
Vancouver-based Teck has already embarked on one of the largest water-quality projects in the world to combat selenium released into the Elk River from waste rock at its coal operations in the Elk River Valley. It is also developing a management plan that could reduce downstream concentrations to less than half the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard.
Selenium is a common earth element but it can be concentrated in foods eaten by aquatic animals and accumulate in their eggs, causing abnormalities or death. It has been showing up in elevated levels in Koocanusa Lake, which straddles the Canada-U.S. border.
Teck has committed $600 million over the next five years to address what the company acknowledges is a complex and difficult problem to solve. “We have been working at how we reverse the trend of selenium levels here in the Elk Valley,” said Marcia Smith, senior vice-president of sustainability and external affairs at Teck. “We at Teck are leading the research, and leading the implementation of plans, things that have not been done anywhere else in the world to reverse this trend.”
Lake said Teck “understands the extent of problem and what they need to do to go forward.”
Teck has an application before the government to continue its Line Creek coal mining operation in the valley. Besides Teck, there are a further three applications before the government for expansions and one application for a new mine. “With the ones that are in the process, they will have to be considered in conjunction with a valley-wide plan. They won’t be judged as one-offs,” Lake said.
Lake said he has no timeline to have a plan completed, but he expects a framework plan could be completed within a matter of months. Details can be worked out later, he said. “It does need to be something that has short-term, medium-term and long-term goals attached to it,” he said.
Teck announced its selenium project in its fourth quarter report to shareholders, saying it expects its plans — to divert water away from waste rock sites and to construct treatment systems — will add $6 a tonne to the cost of its coal.
Work is already underway on a biological treatment facility at the Line Creek mine, Smith said in a telephone interview from the Elk Valley. “That project is well underway with lots and lots of people working in the snow in the winter to build that facility.”
A U.S. study released Wednesday concluded that selenium concentrations in the Elk River exceed B.C. guidelines and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s water quality standard. That study prompted a coalition of environmental groups to call for a ban on new coal mining in the valley.
In its fourth-quarter report, the company tells shareholders that it expects permitting for future projects to be delayed until regulatory authorities accept the selenium management plan and can asses any cumulative impacts of new projects.
Smith said Teck’s goal is to reduce selenium to a scientifically-agreed-upon range of numbers, some of which would be below the U.S. EPA standard.
The presence of selenium in the river is not a new issue. It has been identified downstream from Teck’s Elk River operations and from its coal mines upstream from Alberta’s McLeod River for years.
Teck funded a 2010 report by experts and stakeholders that outlined the problem and came up with a series of recommendations of how to mitigate its impact. “We agreed we would implement those recommendations,” Smith said.
