Damning research on selenium continues to pile up
By Lethbridge Herald on June 3, 2025.
Lorne Fitch
For the Herald
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 aprofessional 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.
17-16
It is curious that this research was released only after the AER deliberations on the exploratory processes on Grassy Mountain were complete.
The canary is lying on the bottom of the cage pounding its chest, trying to attract attention.
But the UCP just pulls the drape over the cage, willing to risk so much for a few $million in royalties and the promise of some jobs in the Crowsnest Pass.
And I wonder how the dilution of toxic elements is going with the river flowing at a trickle? Toxins that can’t be removed by our water treatment. Toxic elements that we will drink (with our fresh trout dinner). Selenium that could jeopardize irrigated food products (a multi-billion dollar industry employing many thousands).
Clearly, this government is not acting like it has the wellbeing of citizens in mind.
Contentious issue! I thought we were moving away from coal and I do support that move, but I am tired of being misled by misinformation and disinformation which spans across the media and various causes and protests.
If you cannot win without misleading people, I do not support you!
Your study you refer to is from Tent Mountain coal “strip mine”, and the Grassy Mountain mine project will be an underground project, not open pit and not strip mine. That means there will be no rains washing coal particles and selenium down into watersheds or dust flying in the air to contaminate the region like an open pit mine would.
Did your report, since you state selenium is long term, consider the previous mining operations in the pass several decades prior in which the whole Pass area was covered in coal soot/dust, which blackened buildings, etc.?
You had my support until you started using information to mislead!
Are you aware that farmers and ranchers around the Lethbridge, Taber region add selenium to the soil and to feed for cattle because of the selenium deficiency?
I am against increasing coal mining, but not because of selenium and not because the water, but because we had started to move away from coal!
The Grassy Mountain coal mine will not be open pit or strip mining!
The Premier:
““You can’t do these things,” she said. “You can’t do open pit mining and you can’t do strip mining — but if you can find techniques that allow you to do new underground mining, then we’re going to be open to approving those projects.””
When you tried to hoodwink people you lose my support!
There is no guarantee that Grassy Mtn will be an u/g mine as this govt has continuously waffled on their coal mining policy. However, even if the company agrees to switch to an u/g mine which I doubt they will, mined rock will still be dumped over the mountain. This will just add to the selenium already in the watershed. The canary is on life support and any mining will essential pull the plug.
Nobody likes being hoodwinked.
But I would question if the musings of the Premier on talk radio is actually our new Coal Mining Policy – there is no accountability until it is in legislation.
And I would question if the uncontrolled addition of selenium to soil through irrigation is the same as adding micronutrients to fertilizer or animal feed. Selenium is bioaccumulative – it doesn’t leave the environment. If concentrations rise, it becomes a negative factor in crop growth and animal health.
This report is saying that the selenium from Tent Mountain remains high 80 years after the mine was closed. High enough to contaminate fish and make them unsafe to eat. And Tent Mountain was a small coal mine by modern standards.
I think the hoodwinking might be coming from the people you want to trust.
similar issues have plagued first peoples over so very many decades. mining is force fed on their land, mining which is not at all practiced sustainably, but merely for max profit. the land is fractured and plundered, toxins are released into the land and water supply, and are further left to leach. cultures are undermined as that which sustains a way of life is undermined. people are poisoned.
and, yet, here we go, again.
if our pathetic leaders, presently calling themselves the ucp, are going to allow more mining that puts our very limited water resource at more risk, it had better entirely enforce utterly sustainable practices, no matter what that cost to the mining cos would be.