Clean up coal mine pollution in the Elk Valley

To: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
BC Premier David Eby

cc: George Heyman, BC Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Josie Osborne, BC Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation
Mélanie Joly, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs
Silas Brownsey, Office of the Premier, Intergovernmental Relations Secretariat BC

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Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Eby,

Clean water is the underpinnings of thriving ecological systems, the well-being of our communities, and the future of sustainability in our society. For decades, selenium and other contaminants have been leaching from piles of mine tailings that fill the valleys of British Columbia’s Elk Valley. The Elk Valley is home to four mountaintop removal coal mines, producing over 20 million tonnes of metallurgical coal per year, making it Canada’s largest coal mining region. Alongside record-breaking corporate profits and tax revenue, however, are world-class wildlife areas, endangered species, First Nations, and downstream communities that all depend on a functioning and healthy ecosystem. BC’s regulatory negligence has led to a one-sided story — but prosperity in the region does not need to be  exclusive to coal profits — we need to value the environment as well. 
 
During the US Presidential visit to Canada, both countries agreed to find a solution this summer to reduce and mitigate the impacts of water pollution in the Elk-Kootenay River System, in partnership with First Nations. The transboundary Ktunaxa Nation have explicitly asked for the creation of an Indigenous-led International Joint Commission watershed board to resolve the water quality crisis.
 
As someone concerned for the health and well-being of our environment, our home, and our communities, for future sustainability, and the prosperity of future generations, I ask British Columbia and Canada to agree to issue a reference to the International Joint Commission to form an Indigenous-led watershed board on the Elk-Kootenay River System. 
 
The establishment of an Indigenous-led IJC watershed board will put us on the path to solving the problems that have put us into this situation. Past efforts by the province have failed and trust has been lost. An International Joint Commission reference will begin the path to restore trust as it mandates independent scientific research, sets scientifically defensible water quality objectives, gathers and disseminates water quality and fisheries data, and makes impartial recommendations on how to restore and maintain the health of the watershed.

I urge each of you to take the path of evidence-based solutions and transparency. Neither I nor future generations want to worry about the impacts of a contaminated river system.

Sincerely,

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