Page 5 - Flathead Beacon // 11.19.14
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FLATHEADBEACON.COM
NEWS
Concerns Renewed as B.C. Coal Mining Pollutants Increase in Montana Watershed
NOVEMBER 19, 2014 | 5
W•O•R•D•S of the Week
AN INDEX OF RECENT NEWSMAKERS
KEYSTONE XL
The Republican-controlled House passed legislation Friday approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline, setting the stage for a Senate showdown that mixes energy and politics. The 1,179- mile project is proposed to go from Canada through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska.
BUDGET
Gov. Steve Bullock released his latest budget proposal this week, asking the upcoming Leg- islature to approve $300 million in grants and bonds for infra- structure needs and continue investments in the K-12 public education system, while freez- ing tuition within the Montana University System, among other proposals.
TESTER
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana was named chairman of the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee, a position that plac- es him in a main leadership role within the national Democratic Party. His top priority will be to help the party regain the Senate majority in 2016.
STATE TITLE
The Glacier football team plays Great Falls CM Russell in the Class AA state championship game this Friday night. It will be the first title game in Kalispell since 1980. Go Wolfpack!
As new mines are proposed in the region, scrutiny intensifies
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
With renewed plans to expand coal- mining operations in southeastern British Columbia’s Elk River drainage, located up- stream from one of Montana’s world-class transboundary watersheds, researchers and government agencies are intensifying scrutiny on environmental hazards span- ning the border.
The concerns center on increasing amounts of coal waste byproducts leach- ing into the heavily mined Elk River and its many tributaries, which drain into two bodies of water shared by B.C. and Montana – Lake Koocanusa and the Koo- tenai River – both of which are showing increased levels of mining contaminants like selenium in the muscle tissue of fish species.
There are currently five coal mines in the Elk River Valley that are causing tox- ic pollution, all of which have launched expansion proposals that are in the ex- ploration, permitting or development stage. Operated by Teck Coal Limited, the world’s second-largest exporter of metal- lurgical coal, the mines produce approxi- mately 70 percent of Canada’s total annu- al coal exports, and directly employ more than 4,500 full-time workers.
“The plans for expansion (at one mine) are equivalent to a new mine footprint,” said Erin Sexton, a research scientist at the Flathead Lake Biological Station of the University of Montana tracking the issue, while articulating the concerns to mem- bers of the Flathead Basin Commission last week. “This is concerning, particu-
Mountain top removal coal mining in the Elk Valley, B.C. COURTESY GARTH LENZ
larly as we continue to see alarming data with respect to elevated levels of contami- nants from the existing mines.”
In 2013, the B.C. government ordered Teck Coal to address the issue of contami- nants in the Elk River drainage, resulting in the Elk Valley Water Quality Plan and Technical Advisory Committee. The com- mittee was comprised of leading scientists from provincial, state and both Canadian and U.S. federal governments, along with Teck’s staff and contractors. Representa- tives of the Ktunaxa Nation were also at the forefront of the committee, and the plan is under review by the provincial gov- ernment.
All five Teck mines are open-pit, truck and shovel mines. As part of the wa- ter quality plan, Teck opened the first of six water treatment plants, a $120 mil- lion treatment plant called the West Line Creek Water Treatment Facility, to re- move a metal-like element called selenium and other contaminants from Line Creek.
However, the facility was taken off line last month because of a fish kill down- stream from the plant. The cause of the fish kill is still unknown, but may have to do with increased oxygenation in the wa- ter. The plant is the first facility opened as part of a $600 million, five-year plan to address the pollution threat to westslope cutthroat trout and other aquatic life in the Elk Valley, and its closure illustrates the challenges of such a large-scale cleanup.
“The Elk River is shot at this point. Its story has been told and it’s now a matter of remediation,” Sexton said, adding that contaminants are causing spinal deformi- ties in westslope cutthroat trout in the Elk River and adversely impacting reproduc- tion. “We need to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen downstream in Montana.”
What remains unknown, due in large part to a dearth of science-based research in Lake Koocanusa, are the consequenc-
See Coal Mining PAGE 30
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