Northback Dundee disses Alberta government science; has none of his own
CEO Mike Young tells Fort Macleod Council that science critical of his scheme to disinter Grassy Mountain coal project should be ignored.
Among the inanities pouring from the mouth of Northback CEO Mike Young while appearing before Fort Macleod’s March 10 town council was his claim that published science about coal-mine poisoning should be ignored.
Young said he wants a stop to scientific criticism of his resurrection of Gina Rinehart’s decomposed Grassy Mountain project until he presents his own environmental review to the Alberta Energy Regulator some many months from now. In the meantime, he asked, “What’s the rush?”
In fact, Gina’s goofus actually told the elected officials they should not care one wit about the mine’s negative impacts before it is up and running: “Until there is a mine, there is no possibility of there being a concern.”
It would be easy to dismiss Young as a malign gaslighter when he is probably just a dope, sun-dried by too many days under the Outback sun.
Observers of Gina Rinehart’s Strine-speaking Canadian go-boy will be familiar with Young’s idiotic locution. (He once asked Crowsnest Headwaters campaigners to go easy on him because, “I’m just doing a job.” We agree. It’s a snow job, and not a very good one.
The failed uranium and solar promoter arrogantly told councillors who had invited him to defend the Grassy Mountain scam scheme they did not have the scientific expertise to understand and that he would not answer the questions they had provided beforehand.
While, in the same meeting, touting Alberta’s ephemeral “no selenium” modern mining policy (which does not even apply to Grassy Mountain according to Energy Minister Brian Jean), Young admitted that selenium would not be eliminated from Grassy Mountain coal mining: “You don’t remove selenium; you reduce it to the level allowed by the regulator.”
As for the science that shows selenium and other toxins to accumulate in water and agricultural land, Young played the cuckoo card: “You need to ask who’s saying it and what are their credentials and where’s the science?”
So, here, for the benefit of Fort Macleod’s legitimately concerned councillors, is a compendium of recent research by the Alberta government’s own scientists related to the poisoning and land and water by Rocky Moutain coal-mining. (Originally posted January 15 in Water For Food)
Transboundary Atmospheric Pollution from Mountaintop Coal Mining
Environmental Science & Technology Letters Vol 9/Issue 11, October 26, 2022
Colin A. Cooke, and Paul E. Drevnick
Mountaintop removal coal mining impairs downstream ecosystems through the delivery of nutrients, ions, and heavy-metals. Here, we show that this mining also impacts ecosystems downwind, and that the suite of environmental contaminants released includes polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). We recovered a sediment core from Window Mountain Lake, located along the eastern slopes of Canada’s Rocky Mountains. The sediment core records a ∼30-fold increase in PAC concentrations, and a compositional profile that matches closely with coal mined in the Elk Valley, British Columbia, on the other side of the continental divide. Selenium concentrations have also increased, paralleling a rise in the Elk River, which drains the coal mines. The source of these contaminants is fugitive coal dust, emitted during mining and carried atmospherically from Pacific to Atlantic drainage basins. Atmospheric PAC emissions will increase as mines expand unless mitigation measures are implemented, and our results likely apply at similar large-scale mountaintop removal coal mining operations around the world.”
Government of Alberta, Ministry of Environment and Parks. ISBN 978-1-4601-4982-9. June, 2021
Laura E. Redmond, M.Sc., P.Biol.
“Selenium is a naturally occurring element found in rocks and soil that is an essential trace element in low concentrations but can be toxic at higher levels. In regions with surface mining like the upper McLeod watershed, the mobilization of metals such as selenium can occur and have adverse effects on water quality and aquatic life.”
Legacy coal mining impacts downstream ecosystems for decades in the Canadian Rockies
Environmental Pollution, Volume 344, 1 March 2024, 123328
Colin A. Cooke, Craig A. Emmerton, Paul E. Drevnick
“Mountaintop removal coal mining leaves a legacy of disturbed landscapes and abandoned infrastructure with clear impacts on water resources; however, the intensity and persistence of this water pollution remains poorly characterized. Here we examined the downstream impacts of over a century of coal mining in the Crowsnest Pass.”
Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Contaminates Snowpack across a Broad Region
Environmental Science & Technology Vol 58/Issue 26, June 18, 2024
Colin A. Cooke, Kira M. Holland, Craig A. Emmerton, Paul E. Drevnick, Alison S. Criscitiello, Brandi Newton
“Mountaintop removal coal mining is a source of downstream pollution. Here, we show that mountaintop removal coal mining also pollutes ecosystems downwind. We sampled regional snowpack near the end of winter along a transect of sites located 3–60 km downwind of coal mining in the Elk River valley of British Columbia, Canada.”
AUTHORS
Colin A. Cooke - Environment and Protected Areas, Government of Alberta; Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
Kira M. Holland - Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
Craig A. Emmerton - Environment and Protected Areas, Government of Alberta; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta
Paul E. Drevnick - Environment and Protected Areas, Government of Alberta; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary
Alison S. Criscitiello - Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
Brandi Newton - Environment and Protected Areas, Government of Alberta
Laura E. Redmond, M.Sc., P.Biol., Government of Alberta