Kootenai added to list of most e

Kootenai added to list of most endangered rivers

April 19, 2013

Five open-pit coal mines in southeastern British Columbia in the Elk River watershed, a major tributary of the Kootenai River, an international watershed that covers 18,000 square miles in British Columbia, Montana and Idaho, were cited by American Rivers for ranking the Kootenai River among the most endangered in the United States, and the group is urging its 100,000 members to write Secretary of State John Kerry to use the International Joint Commission to protect the river.

Teck Coal has admitted that coal mining operations in the Elk Valley watershed, which includes the Elk and Fording rivers and Lake Koocanusa, which flows across the border into Montana, are linked to high selenium levels in those waters, and on Monday, the British Columbia government ordered the company to come up with a plan to address selenium and other contaminants in 90 days.

American Rivers has ranked the Kootenai as number nine on its list of the 10 most endangered rivers in the United States. The Colorado River is ranked number one.

According to American Rivers, large scale open-pit coal mining is currently degrading water quality and impacting fisheries and other aquatic life in the Elk River in British Columbia, which flows into the headwaters of the Kootenai River.

Teck Coal operates five open-pit coal mines in the Elk River Valley. Multiple new mines that are being proposed, along with expansions at existing mining operations, are posing unprecedented risks to the clean water, fish and wildlife, and recreation values of the Kootenai River system.

Selenium, a naturally-occurring element, is released as a result of the mining, and becomes toxic at very low levels in the aquatic environment. Despite documented violation of provincial and federal water quality guidelines for selenium, four of the five mines are expanding. Each mine expansion is being considered individually, with no legal requirement to evaluate the cumulative water quality and aquatic life impacts from all five mines.

In addition to the expansions, one new mine has also been proposed and three large scale exploration projects are currently underway that could lead to even more mine proposals.

Teck Coal's own data show that they have exceeded British Columbia’s selenium standard since 2006, with levels steadily increasing and detectable in Montana and Idaho.

Selenium is a pollutant that bioaccumulates in the environment. That means its impact multiplies as it moves through the food chain. Elevated levels of selenium have already been detected in Kootenai River fish. Due to selenium contamination, the State of Montana has listed Lake Koocanusa (a dammed section of the Kootenai River on the U.S./Canadian border) as an impaired water body under Section 303(d) of the U.S. Clean Water Act.

British Columbia is expected to issue permits for expansions of two of the five open-pit coal mines in the near future.

Both of Montana’s Senators have requested that the U.S. State Department investigate the existing and potential downstream impacts from the open-pit coal mines.

In addition, a coalition of tribes has requested that the governments of the U.S. and Canada refer this matter to the International Joint Commission (IJC). International scrutiny of the proposed mines expansion, through the objective auspices of IJC, is the best way to ensure protection of water quality and native fisheries in the Kootenai River system.