A Canadian coal mining company is polluting the Elk River in British Columbia with selenium, which then flows into the Kootenai River and into Montana. Elevated levels of selenium can be harmful to fish and bird populations, according to numerous scientific studies, and in significant amounts can also be harmful to human health. There is currently a sixfold increase in selenium in the Kootenai River in Montana from Teck’s coal mines. Teck was fined $60 million by Canadian authorities in 2021 for pollution of Canadian waters that flow into the U.S., and that pollution continues today.
In a bizarre twist, the Montana Board of Environmental Review (BER) is trying to reverse stringent selenium standards a previous Board set. BER is being sued by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the Montana Environmental Information Council to uphold existing standards. The Montana Department of Justice (DOJ) under Attorney General Austin Knudsen has intervened on the side of BER to weaken the selenium standards on behalf of Teck and is withholding 414 documents and communications DOJ has shared with the foreign coal company. DOJ claims that its communications with Teck should not be disclosed to the citizens of Montana, because the DOJ and Teck have a “common interest privilege.” We assume “common interest privilege” is legalese for “we are working with Teck, and it is none of your business.”
The Montana Constitution says: “No person shall be deprived of the right to examine documents or to observe the deliberations of all public bodies or agencies of state government and its subdivisions, except in cases in which the demand of individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure.”
The question is, why is Attorney General Austin Knudsen working for Teck, a foreign mining company polluting Montana waters, instead of the citizens of Montana?
Chris Servheen is the president and board chair of the Montana Wildlife Federation.