Province ignoring science on mining, says MLA
By Lethbridge Herald on August 8, 2025.
Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald
A recent report by provincial government scientists examining the impact of selenium and other elements after coal mine reclamation has Lethbridge West MLA Rob Miyashiro worried about the Oldman watershed and other bodies of water.
Miyashiro said Wednesday he has serious fears about the potential impacts of mining on Grassy Mountain, given the study of rivers elsewhere in the province and the potential impact on millions who rely on the agricultural products grown here if coal mining in Grassy Mountain goes ahead.
“In spite of ongoing reclamation, selenium continues to pose a threat to water quality,” said Miyashiro in an interview at his Lethbridge constituency office. “Our government needs to really take a strong look at all this and re-look at their whole concept of a modern coal mining policy. There’s no such thing as a modern coal mining policy. We’re talking about focusing on underground mining and things like that. In relation to Grassy Mountain, there is no underground mining.
They’re not tunnelling in there. They still have to take some material off the top.”
The report, by three Alberta government scientists and one from B.C., shows that despite mountaintop coal mine reclamation in the Rocky Mountains, downstream water quality issues still persist.
Their report states that reclamation “is a requirement of mountaintop coal mines.”
It summarizes “decades of government and industry water quality monitoring and research spanning the onset, operation, closure, and reclamation” of three mines in the Rockies which all occur within the McLeod River waterbasin “offering opportunities to examine cumulative inputs and impacts.”
They say selenium concentrations remain elevated and above guidelines for protecting aquatic life even decades after the mines were closed and reclamation done despite regulatory requirements.
But selenium isn’t the only issue. They say higher concentrations of solutes and particle-bound heavy metals were noted downstream of the three mines with impacts most obvious in two tributaries of the McLeod River.
“After decades of coal extraction, changing regulatory requirements and near complete reclamation of one coal mine, water quality remains negatively impacted with higher concentrations of ions, nutrients, and metals downstream of coal mines. These results suggest current reclamation practices and regulatory requirements for water quality and aquatic ecosystems are not meeting the desired objectives,” say study authors Colin A. Cooke, Craig A. Emmerton, William F. Donahue and Jason Kerr.
Their report shows that levels of nickel downstream in Luscar Creek and Gregg Creek are as much as 200 times higher than upstream. And even in areas undergoing reclamation, selenium and other ions “continue to pose a threat to water quality.”
They say that at six locations, concentrations of selenium exceeded safe limits for wildlife in almost all of the samples take, which the authors believe pose risks to birds and fish, including deformities and impaired reproduction.
Contaminants also pose a risk to the Alaska rainbow trout which is listed as an endangered species. It faces a higher risk of extinction “due to habitat degradation and water contamination” with authors saying a report from the Alberta Conservation Association showing a continued decline in rainbow trout populations in the Upper McLeod River.
Their report can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026974912501214X?ref=pdf_download&fr=RR-2&rr=96b15c8c0ec4becc
Windborne materials from coal mining is also a concern, he added.
Even during exploratory drilling, contaminants are being release, he said. And those contaminants will go downstream to Lethbridge, said Miyashiro.
“This is real science, these are real scientists looking at the data saying ‘our reclamation efforts from 20 years ago, 25 years ago are not being successful.
“The government is denying the fact that their coal mining policy has some potential adverse effects…
“I don’t think they’ve thought this through. I don’t think they actually care.”
He said the environmental impact isn’t the only concern. There’s also the issue of what the province would get in return financially. Miyashiro said the province gets paid among the lowest royalties in the world and the mine won’t produce as many jobs as the government expects.
And impacts of people downstream need to be considered.
“You’re talking about our billions of dollar agri-food industry” with contamination of vegetables, seed oils and other products.
“If that goes, we’re done,” said Miyashiro.
He also wonders what would happen if contamination reaches the South Saskatchewan river and expands farther east.
“Our government really needs to take a strong look at this, quit being so anti-science, quit being so ideological about coal mining. Take a step back and just think about it. Paying $140 million settlements to coal companies that don’t have a right to mine in our mountains is ludicrous.”
The study notes that data shows “selenium concentrations that remain elevated downstream of mountaintop removal coal mines, regardless of the extent or status of reclamation. In many instances, downstream selenium concentrations were above both the Alert Concentration (1 µg/L) and the Protection of Aquatic Life Guideline (2 µg/L) set by the Government of Alberta. …Every single downstream sample from Luscar Creek and Gregg River exceeded this Alert Concentration, and nearly all samples exceeded the 2 µg/L guideline”
And it notes that numerous studies have shown selenium downstream of mountaintop removal coal mines is sourced from waste mine rock.
“The placement of waste rock within regional drainage features and the steep topographic terrain facilitates the downstream transport of any leached selenium,” says the scientists.
And they say in B.C., “long-term sampling downstream of active coal mining in the Elk River valley has revealed increasing concentrations and loads selenium, nitrate, and sulfate in downstream ecosystems. Detailed geochemical study of waste rock piles in the Elk River Valley have revealed that selenium concentrations in waste rock need not be high to result in prolonged release.”
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socialist commie talk – selenium is found in brazil nuts, so it is good and natural stuff. for those of us that cannot afford brazil nuts and multivitamins, we need selenium in our water, and, you will never know it is there because it does not alter the taste hardly.
(heck, along with the flouride already added to a lot of community water we will get a great 1-2 punch; now if we can finally get caffeine and dexedrine added to our water we are energised and alert and able to better drive and text and stuff. but, we pay extra if we have fluoride in our water, which is good, too, because fluoride in our stomachs is deemed so good and important that it is forced on folk that even do not want it but can’t escape it because it is put into the public water they depend on for drinking and bathing. at least with the selenium, it is free!).
as for the talk about mining companies not cleaning up after themselves, let alone the idea that they mine sustainably and responsibly, our ucp and their prior con named colleagues have shown that whatever the mining cos do to damage the environment, and whatever the stuff they leave behind, we will inherit that graciously and even pick up the tab to fix it. so, who needs expensive and constricting regulations and studies when our govt will fix everything anyway? 3 cheers for our good govt that cleans up industry for free! meanwhile, the commie govt would force industry to clean up, and that would hardly be a nice way to treat guests…imagine having a dinner party and making the guests clean up after themselves and do the dishes. geesh! the commies have no manners in addition to no business skills.
anyways, we need the coal mining so the massive real estate spike over the last several years in the pass, based entirely on mining speculation, continues to have a basis; we need it because it will create a good handful of middling, short term jobs so more pick up trucks can be financed, and maybe some atvs and fifth wheels and stuff; we need it because there are some ucp politicians and insiders who stand to lose a good chunk of pocket lining change if the communists have their way and shut down the mining; and, just think of all the selenium we will get from it, for free.