Grassy Mountain
Selenium leaching has been linked to mass deaths of Westslope cutthroat trout and has sparked disputes with U.S. officials concerned about the pollution flowing over the border into Montana and Idaho.
Riversdale says Grassy Mountain will be different.
Gary Houston, the company’s vice-president of external affairs of Riversdale Resources, says the project north of Blairmore was “specifically designed from the ground up to effectively capture and treat selenium in water sources.”
As conservation director with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Association’s southern Alberta branch, Katie Morrison worries about the water in particular.
For years, the B.C. mines leached selenium into streams and rivers, despite efforts by mining giant Teck to control the pollution. Selenium is an element that can be toxic in large amounts and it has been routinely detected at levels well above guidelines in waterways downstream of the B.C. mines.
She says the mitigations the company has proposed are “really new” and “fairly untested at the scale of a mine.”
“When we look at the history of coal mining, both just over the border in the Elk Valley, as well as other places in North America, there has actually never been a case where the mine has successfully been able to mitigate and control selenium release,” she said.
“So best laid-plans and intentions by the companies to mitigate, but I don’t really have any confidence that things won’t go wrong.”
Some residents of historic Crowsnest Pass, Alta., hope a new mining opportunity will lift up their town’s economy. But others fear negative consequences from open-pit mining in a postcard setting tucked at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.
Source: Historic Alberta coal community wrestles with plans for new mining | CBC News
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