Selenium’s coal mining impact on the environment
The Southern Alberta Group for Environment (SAGE) is a leading voice for a healthy and environmentally sustainable community. In an article about coal mining, it reads, "As residents living along the Oldman River anticipate the impacts of open-pit coal mining in our headwaters, we should know more about the potential changes in water quality and their effects on river health and, therefore, our health.
Open-pit coal mining involves the removal of rock that sits above the coal seams that the mining company targets for extraction. This rock, or overburden, is typically dumped into the river valleys near the mine where it is exposed to weathering. It is the weathering process that releases pollutants like cadmium, nitrate, sulphate, iron, uranium and selenium into the environment over time – in the form of particulates in the air but, more significantly, into river systems.
People’s World is a voice for progressive change and socialism in the United States. Their article, "Mutated fish highlight the danger of selenium" is a real eye-opener. It talks about deformed fish in southern Idaho, where they have selenium leaking into the water from mining activities.
They say "The metal causes significant damage to animal life; the deformity it causes to birds – missing eyes, twisted feet, protruding brains – is significantly worse than what has been done to the trout. But it’s dangerous to humans as well; it can cause hair and fingernail loss, and numbness in fingers and toes."
If Alberta allows coal mining to continue and grow in the province, there will be a lot of destruction and devastation to the wildlife and the environment.