Defend our rivers from coal mine pollution | Wildsight

Lake Koocanusa. Photo: Tony Webster

Coal mines in the BC Rockies send toxic selenium pollution downstream that puts fish in danger, not just in BC, but in Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River for hundreds of kilometres through Montana and Idaho — and back into BC. With no long-term solution in sight, Teck has proposed Castle, yet another massive mountain-top removal coal mine that would make the pollution problem even worse, not just now, but for centuries.

Selenium pollution is a disaster for fish, from westslope cutthroat trout near the mines to sensitive species like burbot and sturgeon further downstream. But neither BC nor Canada is willing to step up to protect our clean water. First Nations, governments and the US Environmental Protection Agency are raising the alarm in the US, but they aren’t being heard in Canada.

Will you speak up for our shared rivers today?

There’s an organization that’s dedicated to solving pollution problems between Canada and the US. It’s called the International Joint Commission, set up under the longstanding Boundary Waters Treaty. The Commission knows we have a big problem with coal mine water pollution and they’re willing and ready to step in to bring all the players together, to take on fully independent science and monitoring, and to look for a long-term solution to clean up our rivers. But before the Commission can act, they need both the Canadian and US federal governments to agree to let them get started.

Please send a message today to both the Canadian and US governments, asking them to direct the International Joint Commission to help us sort out coal mine pollution in our shared watershed.

Westslope cutthroat trout. Photo: Michael J Ready, ILCP

Your message for the Kootenay

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To: Honourable Marc Garneau, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change
The Hon. Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan
cc: Evelyne Coulombe, Executive Director, U.S. Transboundary Affairs, Global Affairs Canada
Michael Flores, Deputy Director, Canada Desk & Elizabeth Christenson-Diver, Office of Canadian Affairs, Department of State
All six IJC Commissioners: Pierre Béland, Jane Corwin, Merrell-Ann Phare, Henry Lickers, Robert Sisson, Lance Yohe

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If you’d like to write your own letter for maximum impact, we encourage you to do so in the box below. Or, simply send the pre-written letter.

Your message: *
Dear Ministers Garneau and Wilkinson, Secretary Blinken and EPA Administrator Regan, cc: Evelyne Coulombe, Executive Director, U.S. Transboundary Affairs, Global Affairs Canada Michael Flores, Deputy Director, Canada Desk and Elizabeth Christenson-Diver, Office of Canadian Affairs, Department of State IJC Commissioners Pierre Béland, Jane Corwin, Merrell-Ann Phare, Henry Lickers, Robert Sisson, Lance Yohe I’m writing today to request that Canada and the US agree to a reference to the International Joint Commission on the transboundary water pollution flowing from coal mines in the BC Rockies into the shared Elk-Kootenai watershed. It’s been known since the 1990s that selenium pollution from the massive waste rock dumps at the open-pit coal mines in BC’s Elk Valley puts fish downstream at risk. Since that time, BC and Canada have allowed the amount of selenium-leaching waste rock to increase significantly and they are currently considering four additional mines that would make the problem even worse. While some unproven water treatment options are removing a small amount of selenium at the mines, there is no long-term solution that will keep fish in our shared watershed safe for the centuries that pollution is expected to continue flowing. This means hundreds of kilometres of rivers and lakes, all the way from the mines through BC, Montana, and Idaho and back into BC, are at risk. Already, selenium pollution in the border-spanning Lake Koocanusa is well above the level that scientists tell us is safe, which is now a limit under US law. Downstream as far as Idaho, fish have been found with selenium built up in their bodies above EPA limits. Teck just received the largest environmental fine in Canadian history for water pollution in 2012 that put fish in danger downstream of two of the mines; nine years later, there’s even more pollution. This international problem requires an international solution. Please provide a reference to the International Joint Commission on this issue without delay. Our fish and clean water can’t afford to wait any longer while pollution-leaching waste rock dumps in the BC Rockies grow larger every day.

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