BC Coal Mine Behind Slow-Motion Selenium Spill; Drinking Water, Fisheries At Risk, No Way To Stop it
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University of Montana biologist Erin Sexton began studying selenium in the Elk Valley nearly two decades ago when the wildlife-rich Flathead Valley, next to the Elk Valley, was being eyed by coal companies. Mining and oil and gas development are now permanently banned in the Flathead Valley. “We came up to the Elk River in B.C. from Montana in the early 2000s to collect data,” Sexton recalls during an interview. “We were surprised by what we found.”
Sexton said she and her colleagues expected the Elk Valley river system to be impacted by mining, but they did not anticipate the extent of the damage they encountered. “The issue with selenium is that it’s what we call biphasic, meaning that it goes from good-for-you to toxic in a really tiny window,” she says.
Of particular alarm for Sexton was the near absence of macroinvertebrates, the little bugs — mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies — that feed the local fish populations. “We’re losing certain species of those very important macroinvertebrates. Ones that are more sensitive to pollution are disappearing and we know they should be here because we found them in the Flathead which is very close,” Sexton says. “Rather than this rich diversity…we found just a few species in the Elk River.”
To the alarm of Montana officials, Lake Koocanusa, fed by the Elk River, is showing signs of increased selenium pollution. Sexton says selenium contamination is acute directly downstream of the mines. “Whereas further down in the reservoir and in the system, [the effects] are more chronic and will take place in a longer timeframe.” She adds that the overall effects of selenium poisoning can be hard to identify, despite seeing deformities in fish in the Elk.
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https://thenarwhal.ca/for-decades-b-c-failed-to-address-selenium-pollution-in-the-elk-valley-now-no-one-knows-how-to-stop-it/