Anti-science UCP is a danger to Albertans

the following was already posted by me in another thread. i suppose it was too long for you and some others to read, especially as it suggests that open pit coal mining will create significant issues.
nutshell: open pit coal mining affects the environment nearby and further afoot than does underground; and, in response to the nonsense you shared in another thread, that selenium is presently easy to remove from water, one can read that selenium is not at all able to be removed with much good effect from water. also, keep in mind the grassy mine, in addition to being open pit, will also suck massive fresh water out of our system, which is already highly compromised.
“The original Grassy Mountain coal mine was abandoned about 60 years ago and was never reclaimed. A report by Colin Cooke, Craig Emmerton and Paul Drevnick (2024) reviewed information and water quality data from the Grassy Mountain site and the region. The Alberta researchers found coal mining left a legacy of disturbed landscapes and abandoned infrastructure with clear impacts on water resources.
The authors noted the intensity and persistence of water pollution. Pollution and contamination have been poorly characterized in the area. The researchers collected water samples downstream of two historical coal mines, Tent Mountain and Grassy Mountain.
Tent Mountain is a partially reclaimed surface mine that closed in 1983. Selenium concentrations downstream of Tent Mountain reached 185 μg/L in a lake below the mine spoil pile, and up to 23 μg/L in Crowsnest Creek, which drains the lake and the mine property. The authors noted that in 2019, two streams draining the waste rock pile at Tent Mountain were sampled and analyzed for dissolved Se and concentrations ranged from 119 to 801 μg/L — well above maximum acceptable concentrations.” https://www.grainews.ca/columns/selenium-sits-on-thinnest-line-between-health-and-hazard/
we should be aware that there are a number of lawsuits pitting state/community against mining cos that have poisoned land and water. we should know that such poisoning is not limited specifically to the place of the mining, but has in fact spread far beyond, and a number of lawsuits come from places where such mining did not occur.
we should be aware that the reservoir we share with montana, called lake koocanusa, has been contaminated from coal mining. we should know that selenium is an issue in the elk river and in fernie’s water.
we should know that selenium fallout is not limited to water and fish: as with numerous other substances that mining uses and/or exposes, that can accumulate and cause harm, are not limited to just water, but also affect the health of the land and the animals and food on that land.
we should know that tailings ponds full of additional toxic chemicals leach and breach regularly, thanks to poor mining practices that have forever been the norm.
(we should know that fracking poisons the water table, that cos that frack are permitted to destabilise and poison the water table and the land with a bevvy of toxic chemicals that they do not even have to make public.)
we should know that govts do too little to nothing to research the fallouts from mining, and tend to rely on big mining’s “expert” research, much the way govts permit big corp to police themselves by and large (big pharma and big chem are nice examples).
as to your shared but erroneous belief that selenium can simply be removed from water, here is a useful read, whereby a researcher hopes to create a technology that undermines selenium toxicity due to mining, but there is still nothing that mining cos use that for sure prevent significant selenium fallout from mining. what is notable is that mining has had an ongoing legacy of environmental fallout, and nothing to date has worked to curtail the overload of selenium into land and water at unsafe levels.
“Heather Shrimpton, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Waterloo’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, hopes to transform how mining companies manage selenium contamination. Her cutting-edge research, which uses synchrotron light and selenium isotopes, promises to improve the environmental health and safety standards of mining operations, offering an unprecedented ability to monitor and ensure long-term remediation success.”
Selenium, a naturally occurring nutrient, is essential in small doses for human and animal health.
However, when mining activities release excessive selenium into surrounding soil and water bodies, it becomes a dangerous pollutant. At higher concentrations, selenium can lead to reproductive issues in fish and wildlife, and potentially even harm humans through bioaccumulation.
“The big problem,” Shrimpton notes, “is that selenium toxicity doesn’t tend to kill adults. It affects reproduction—so you see failures in fish spawning and weird mutations in birds. It’s not an immediate crisis, but the long-term effects are severe.” This environmental impact, particularly in regions with significant mining activities, like the Elk Valley in Canada’s Rockies, has become a major transboundary concern.
Shrimpton’s research focuses on the need for more accurate monitoring of selenium remediation systems, such as the wetlands or bacterial treatment strategies currently employed by the mining industry. These systems aim to reduce selenium levels by transforming it into a less harmful state, but until now, there has been no way to measure whether the selenium is permanently removed or if it might re-enter ecosystems over time.
“Mining companies have tried several remediation systems, but often they don’t know if these methods are working long-term,” Shrimpton says. “With selenium isotopes, we can track exactly what’s happening to the selenium and see if it’s being removed for good.” By studying how selenium isotopes change during the reduction process, Shrimpton can determine whether the selenium is locked into a solid form and safely removed from the water, or if it’s still lingering in a dangerous state.
This breakthrough couldn’t come at a better time for mining industry leaders who are under increasing pressure to meet environmental health and safety standards. Environmental contamination from selenium has already led to strained relations between industries and communities, especially where fishing and wildlife are threatened. As Shrimpton explains, “if you’re a sport fisherman, you want more baby fish so that you can catch and eat them safely. Knowing that a mining company’s remediation efforts are actually working is critical to maintaining public trust.”
https://www.thesafetymag.com/ca/news/general/improving-selenium-remediation-in-mining/509134
and here is a writing that speaks more specifically to teck mining’s legacy in bc, the same teck that is being legally pursued by nearby states. https://thenarwhal.ca/for-decades-b-c-failed-to-address-selenium-pollution-in-the-elk-valley-now-no-one-knows-how-to-stop-it/

“The original Grassy Mountain coal mine was abandoned about 60 years ago and was never reclaimed.” The authors noted the intensity and persistence of water pollution. Pollution and contamination have been poorly characterized in the area. The researchers collected water samples downstream of two historical coal mines, Tent Mountain and Grassy Mountain. (that said, indeed, grassy was a relatively longer time ago mining site. however, given the fallout from very recent mining of coal such as in the elk valley, and given the lawsuits filed against teck by some usa states, we know that despite good old promises by big mining there is not enough being done to mitigate toxic fallout – which extends well beyond the mining sites…as supported by lawsuits.)
given that grassy has not been mined as extensively as was tent, we should consider the issues arising over the decades from tent as concerns to come from grassy. given there are very recent issues related to very recent mining just a nice drive away affecting and coming from the elk valley, and given the fact noted in the abstract by Heather Shrimpton, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Waterloo’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, which was partially quoted and entirely referenced in my prior very long entry, we also know that there is yet nothing that prevents toxic fallout from mining that coughs up selenium…except not doing the mining.

indeed, why put safety first, rather than money first – for some – despite the fact that the very most recent coal mining projects not very far at all from us have left a toxic legacy that has spread rather far from the mining sites.