Latest news with #selenium
CTV News
11-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Piikani members pray for healing of Crowsnest Lake amid fish consumption advisory
A fish consumption advisory remains in effect for Crowsnest Lake. The Alberta government says this is due to selenium levels from old coal mines. Members of the Piikani Nation gathered at Crowsnest Lake in southwestern Alberta on Tuesday to pray for the body of water to heal following the issuing of a Fish Consumption Advisory. The advisory, posted to the My Wild Alberta website, says 105 fish from Crowsnest Lake were analyzed for mercury and trace metals in 2024, and a preliminary assessment of the results indicated consumption of brown trout, lake trout and mountain whitefish 'should be limited' due to selenium levels. 'The public should consider limiting consumption of these fish species from Crowsnest Lake at this time,' says the site. 'Further investigation is ongoing.' Speaking to CTV News on Tuesday, Piikani Nation member Harley Bastien said water is described as the 'veins and blood' of mother earth by Indigenous people. 'We are water,' Bastien said. 'Our bodies are water, and we are just trying to protect our bodies – not only for ourselves, but for seven generations ahead.' A new study from Alberta government scientist suggests old coal mines on the eastern slopes of the Rockies are leaching chemicals that are poisoning fish downstream. It also suggests any new coal developments could result in 'population collapse' of fish species in a nearby lake. 'We called on the water spirits that live in the water,' Bastien said. 'We prayed through them, we communicate with them, and in turn, they have they're own ways of communicating.' The new study measured selenium levels in fish from Crowsnest Lake, which is fed by creeks connected to Tent Mountain and Grassy Mountain – both former coal mine sites. In a statement, Evolve Power -- formerly Montem -- which owns Tent Mountain, said it is 'in compliance with all applicable provincial and federal regulatory requirements including those prescribed in the environmental protection and enhancement act approval. 'The Crowsnest River Valley contains multiple towns and is a major transportation corridor with significant agricultural and industrial activity, including quarrying by others, all of which may contribute to selenium levels being above naturally occurring levels.' Northback says the Crowsnest Lake issues are unrelated to its Grassy Mountain project. The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) said in a statement to CTV News, 'If selenium is flagged as a concern through sampling, inspections, or an EPA notification, the AER can order the licensee to increase monitoring, control or halt water discharges, and implement a mitigation plan. 'Throughout a mine's entire life cycle, operators must demonstrate that any treated water they release meets the stringent limits set by both provincial and federal standards.' Landowners on the Eastern Slopes say if selenium is found in former mine sites, new exploration is only going to repeat itself. 'The government knew this and yet in all of their communications they've indicated there is little or no concern about selenium contamination from open pit coal mining,' said Mike Judd, who owns land near Beaver Mines. The AER told The Canadian Press that it has directed Evolve Power to submit a 'selenium management plan proposal' that targets reductions in selenium in mine-affected water. Evolve was to submit that plan by July 31 of last year, but the AER said it granted the company an extension to March 31, 2026. Those at the prayer ceremony say that's unacceptable. 'Water is everything to the Indigenous people,' said Bastien. CTV News reached out multiple times to the office of the minister of environment and protected areas for an interview but never received a response. - With files from Canadian Press
CTV News
06-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
A look at selenium as exploratory drilling gets green light
Calgary Watch Recent approval for exploratory drilling at the Grassy Mountain coal mine has brought a lot of public debate, specifically over the potential for selenium.
CTV News
05-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Decision to allow exploratory drilling near Crowsnest Pass prompts questions about selenium
Selenium has been the focus of a lot of public debate with the recent approval by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to allow exploratory drilling at the Grassy Mountain coal mine near the Crowsnest Pass. The biggest concern raised by opponents is the potential impact of selenium on the environment, wildlife and people and land downstream. CTV News spoke with a toxicologist and retired biologist about selenium, the ways of removing it and what it could actually mean for the environment. 'Selenium is a bio-cumulative substance,' said Mandy Olsgard, an environmental toxicologist and risk assessor. She says its a naturally occurring element found in rocks, soils and can be released into the environment through multiple ways including coal mining. Selenium has been found in water in Alberta and British Columbia. While low amounts may not pose harm, Olsgard says higher amounts can be toxic. 'There are ways to remove it, and I would say the technologies being used in Elk Valley are the best available technologies,' she told CTV news. Elk Valley Resources, formerly Tech Resources Ltd., currently uses saturated rock fill and active water treatment. 'Saturated rock fill can remove to about three micrograms per litre, active water treatment can to about 10 micrograms per litre. The issue is the Alberta Surface Water Quality guideline to protect fish and aquatic life is one to two micrograms per litre,' Olsgard explained. She says those treatments could protect water for humans and agriculture. 'But there's no technology that can remove enough selenium to protect a receiving aquatic environment,' she said. Olsgard says high levels of selenium can cause developmental affects to fish, such as curved spines and a reduced population. At the beginning of June, Alberta's ministry of environment and protected areas issued a fish consumption advisory for Crowsnest Lake. Each year, the province conducts netting of fish from selected lakes across Alberta to inform recreational fish management. In 2024, 105 brown trout, lake trout and mountain whitefish were analyzed for mercury and trace metals. A preliminary assessment of these results showed that consumption of those fish should be limited due to selenium levels, according to the ministry. 'We don't have to go into the Elk Valley in B.C. to see this, we have our own Elk Valley in the MacLeod River drainage in the old coal branch, where water quality has been impacted by a century or more of coal mining to the point where 92 per cent of the native trout population is missing because of selenium,' said retired biologist Lorne Fick. Fick spent 50 years reviewing environmental impacts on mines in the Eastern Slopes with four other biologists. He found that all of them had either acute landslide, significant erosion and water contamination. 'If you don't engineer your development in such a way to be cognitive of that, things will fail – and they did,' Fick said. 'If you don't have a predictive quality about what the weather events will be, and those were available, things will fail.' Alberta has higher selenium concentration in drinking water standard than B.C. Alberta is listed at 50 micrograms per litre, whereas B.C. has a standard two micrograms per litre. Olsgard says it will take decades to exceed those in places like Lethbridge and further downstream. 'It might not be exceeding thresholds, it might still be safe for crops and food production, but the perception around that and a contaminated water source… I don't know think anyone has really considered that,' she said. The Alberta government has done a number of studies showing the extremely concerning impact of selenium on rivers, fish and the environment. While the reports have been made public, the province will not allow us or any other media to speak with the researcher behind the studies.
