Critical information not yet released to public by GoA

Yes, it's selenium. Yes.....it's at an unacceptable concentration locally. A health advisory should be provided.

Selenium effected trout. Photo courtesy of Marlin Schmidt on FaceBook

A few of us have been debating on when to publish what we have recently learned from Lorne Fitch regarding the findings by the Government of Alberta. Reluctantly, the government has released a report on findings of high and unsafe selenium concentrations in fish flesh from Crowsnest Lake. This is a direct result of the ongoing leaching of effluent from the Tent Mountain mine which extirpated all signs of fish in Crowsnest Creek, an upper tributary of Crowsnest Lake.

Our reason for waiting to publish the info was in hopeful expectation of the GoA providing, in some form, a health advisory for the public to refrain from consumption of any fish from the lake. So far that advisory has not been forthcoming. Therefore, in the public interest, we are moving forward with the info.

The numbers are high for fish and for humans. I will let Lorne explain in the following piece. The numbers are referenced as X μg/g.

[μg/g = ppb (parts per billion)]

We at Crowsnest Headwaters will be following up with more information as we receive it and keeping you informed. Thanks for reading.

Research Provides Teachable Moments for Coal Mining—Is Anyone Listening?

Lorne Fitch, P. Biol.

Another piece of research has just revealed the contamination of trout and mountain whitefish in Crowsnest Lake with selenium, derived from the legacy Tent Mountain coal strip mine (Fish remain high in selenium long after mountaintop coal mines close, GOA 2025). Scientists from the government of Alberta have confirmed that “Fish in Crowsnest Lake contain tissue selenium concentrations (5–26 μg/g dry weight) that exceed guidelines and rival fish selenium levels downstream of active MTR[Mountaintop removal] operations.” These results are unnerving.

Alberta has an interim fish tissue selenium guideline of 4 μg/g to protect fish populations from reproductive failures. Apparently every single fish analyzed from Crowsnest Lake exceeded this value. In addition to the toxicity risks to fish, there are also health concerns for people who consume fish high in selenium. The researchers recommend “consumption advisories for the Crowsnest Lake and Crowsnest River system.”

The source of the selenium has been identified as originating from waste rock dumped over the span of mining on Tent Mountain. What is concerning is that selenium concentrations in Crowsnest Lake water samples did not exceed the guidelines for protection of aquatic life. Yet, there is significant bioaccumulation of selenium upwards through the food chain. This is also the case with trout in Gold and Blairmore creeks, affected by the legacy Grassy Mountain coal mines.

This may be the case with fish populations downstream of Crowsnest Lake, over the length of the Crowsnest River. It was initially thought that fish population declines in the river were related to Whirling disease. What is now speculated is the symptoms of selenium poisoning are so similar to those of Whirling disease, that the impacts from legacy mining have not been recognized throughout the watershed.

It isn’t good enough to sporadically sample water and assure downstream users there is no water quality problem because some guideline wasn’t exceeded. Fish and other aquatic species, parts of the food chain that ultimately include us, need rigorous, repeated sampling to alert us to the dangers.

This is a bitter pill for those opposed to coal mining, since it confirms their worst fears. It should be of concern as well for coal proponents, since it adds measurably and incontrovertibly to the evidence that coal development is not, and will never be benign, even with the assertion from the coal industry and the Alberta government that it can occur with the “highest of environmental standards.”

There is the mythical development Sasquatch—often talked about but never seen—that we can have it all. We can have coal mining and trout, and high water quality, and clean air, and tourism, and economic development, and when the mining is done the footprint will be magically erased.

This latest research on mining-contaminated fish, when added to the studies on pollution from legacy mines in the Crowsnest Pass, the air-borne contaminants from BC mines, and the legacy of issues from coal mining in the McLeod River watershed in Alberta and the Elk River in BC, represent fable-crushing evidence by objective science that having it all is pervasive and phantasmal. No one should be fooled any longer.

Since contamination of fish flesh by selenium is a human health issue one has to ask—Where is the due diligence of the government of Alberta? Research does not happen in a vacuum, there are updates, briefings, interim results, and final reports. Presumably, every relevant department and every minister was briefed on the findings from the research on Crowsnest Lake fish based on the implications for health. This information flow probably happened months ago.

So, why has it taken so long for the public to be told of the issues, especially for those who are anglers, eat fish, or are downstream water drinkers? Shouldn’t there have been a fulsome and rapid response? Where are the public advisories? Where are the “responsible” ministers? Are they cowering with the coal industry trying to develop some public relations spin?

Yes, research provides us teachable moments to consider in the debate over coal mining. Are we listening?

Lorne Fitch is a Professional Biologist, a retired Fish and Wildlife Biologist and a past Adjunct Professor with the University of Calgary. He is the author of Streams of Consequence and Travels Up the Creek.