The Canadian Federal Government recently announced it will perform a separate environmental review of a proposed coal mine expansion in the Elk Valley that many conservation groups and other entities have said would send polluted water downstream into transboundary waters, including Lake Koocanusa.

The Castle Coalmine Project comes from Canadian-based mining giant Teck Resources Limited. The project would expand Teck’s Fording River steelmaking coal mine, adding to a network of mining operations just north of Fernie.

According to the company’s website, the project is “an opportunity to extend the lifespan of Fording River and maintain the jobs and economic benefits generated by the operation in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.”

Over time, Teck anticipates that all steelmaking coal for Fording River will come from the Castle Project area, which would be located on Castle Mountain. The open-pit mine would increase operations in Elk Valley by about one-third and would maintain the production capacity of 10 million tons per year, or 27,400 tons per day, according to the Canadian government. Although the exact lifespan of the mine is currently unknown, production is expected to last several decades.

In a prepared statement, a Teck spokesperson said the Canadian federal government’s decision to perform its own assessment is “unfortunate,” and added “the Castle project has already been proceeding through a rigorous provincial environmental review process.”

But U.S. governments, conservationists, tribes and others disagree. Dozens of entities have scrutinized Teck’s Elk Valley mining empire throughout the years, and many are now saying pollutants that stem from the operations - namely selenium - would only worsen should the Castle project move forward.

In a prepared statement, Dave Hadden with Headwaters Montana said, “Castle would be Canada’s largest strip mine, and would send polluted water hundreds of miles downstream into Montana and Idaho, as well as cut off wildlife travel routes between Canada and Montana’s Glacier National Park.”

Headwaters Montana, a nonprofit that exists to protect water, wildlife and outdoor heritage in the Crown of the Continent, is one of the 17 U.S. groups that requested the federal assessment. By the urging of these groups, Canadian and U.S. tribes, hundreds of members of the public and others, Federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson eventually ordered the assessment. According to a press release from Montana Headwaters, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho took the lead in asking for the additional federal review.

“Today’s decision is an important first step in addressing a pollution problem that spans

borders and decades,” Ecojustice attorney Randy Christensen said in a prepared statement. “Selenium pollution, like that from Teck’s Elk Valley mine, can poison waterways for thousands of years. This is concerning for Canadians and for our American neighbours downstream from Teck’s Castle Mountain mine.”

ASIDE FROM widespread requests for a federal assessment, Minister Wilkinson also said the sheer size of the proposed operations was enough to warrant Canadian federal review. He also acknowledged the coal mine expansion may have adverse impacts on Indigenous rights. Additionally, Wilkinson said he was worried British Columbia wouldn’t look carefully enough at all of the environmental risks through its own assessment and expressed concerns related to the possible downstream impacts on fish populations in Montana and Idaho.

“The Canadian federal government has, with this announcement, recognized Montanans’ concerns with regards to the water pollution already flowing across the border, and the very likelihood that the Castle would add significantly to this existing pollution,” Hadden said.

In September 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Geological Survey released the results of a water quality study indicating levels of selenium in water and fish, and elevated nitrates in water in the Kootenai River. The study determined these pollutants were associated with upstream sources in Elk Valley and Lake Koocanusa.

The study was a collaborative effort between federal, state and tribal agencies to assess the Kootenai River watershed and was based on water chemistry and fish tissue samples taken on the river in Montana and Idaho immediately below the Libby Dam, up to the Canadian border.

When the study was released, EPA Regional Administrator Gregory Sopkin said, “the results, particularly selenium impacts to fish, underscore the need for a more detailed understanding of water quality and continued collaboration to protect Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River.”

Earlier this summer, scientists with the USGS recommended that the selenium pollution in Lake Koocanusa be kept to less than half of what Teck operations are already sending downstream. And selenium levels in the Elk River, located directly below the mines, far exceed those limits.

Montana and British Columbia governments have been working toward establishing a pollution standard for selenium at the international border for several years now. A decision is expected by the end of 2020.

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com