Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schultz lied, said coal mining is safe while gov’t scientists reported many threats including mines continuously releasing carcinogens and heavy metals into downstream ecosystems

Government Scientists Identify Coal Mining’s Threats to Southern Alberta Agribusiness, Growers and processors need to hear directly from government scientists by the Water For Food Editors, Jan 15, 2025

The future of farming downstream of Grassy Mountain?

At a government-sponsored “water availability” meeting in Lethbridge January 8, 2024, environment minister Rebecca Shulz referenced her department’s scientific studies that, she said, would reassure growers, irrigators, and food processors that renewed Rocky Mountain coal mining would be safe for Southern Alberta’s agribusiness.

The next day her department duly released a batch of scientific studies that show quite the opposite. Not a single line in any one of the studies raises anything but warnings for agriculture about the prospect of re-starting open-pit coal mining at Grassy Mountain, in the municipal district of Ranchland.

The Alberta government prohibits the authors of these studies from talking directly to the public. Growers, irrigation providers and food processors urgently need to engage directly and publicly with taxpayer-funded experts including aquatic scientists Colin Cooke, Paul Drevnick, Craig Emmerton, and Laura Redmond.


Here are combined key findings from summaries of the four government scientific reports, followed by the full abstracts and the qualifications of the authors:

  • “Mountaintop removal coal mining impairs downstream ecosystems through the delivery of nutrients, ions, and heavy-metals.”
  • “The source of these contaminants is fugitive coal dust, emitted during mining and carried atmospherically from Pacific to Atlantic drainage basins.”
  • “Changes in the McLeod River water quality at sites downstream of active mining included increasing trends in 11 metals, including selenium.”
  • “These findings carry important implications for receiving ecosystems and for communities located close to mountaintop removal coal mines exposed to air pollution elevated in PACs.”
  • “For some metals, including selenium, concentrations downstream of reclamation were still above recommended guidelines for the protection of aquatic life.”
  • “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.”
  • “These results underscore the lasting downstream impacts of abandoned and even reclaimed coal mines.”

REPORT 1

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.


REPORT 2

Water quality in the McLeod River as an indicator for mining impacts and reclamation success (2005 to 2016)

Government of Alberta, Ministry of Environment and Parks. ISBN 978-1-4601-4982-9. June, 2021

Laura E. Redmond, M.Sc., P.Biol.

“The McLeod River headwaters originate in the Rocky Mountains in west-central Alberta and join the Athabasca River near Whitecourt. Coal mining has occurred in the McLeod watershed since the 1970s and more recently, there has been both reclamation and expansion of mine sites in the upper basin. Elevated levels of total suspended solids, nitrates, metals and other major ions are of concern to water quality in watersheds where mining is a predominant land use. 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. Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) surveys in the late 1990s identified that selenium in surface water was the lowest at non-impacted reference sites, and highest at exposed sites closest downstream of mining activity. In this study, water quality monitoring in the McLeod watershed has allowed for the assessment of the trends at sites downstream of current mining activity (2005-2016) and the effectiveness of reclamation efforts at sites downstream of mines that have undergone reclamation activity. Current mining activity at the Cheviot mine has impacts on the McLeod River, whereas reclamation activity at the Luscar and Gregg River mines have changed water quality conditions in tributaries of the McLeod River (Luscar Creek and Gregg River). Trends in surface water quality parameters were assessed over time to understand changes in water quality and associations with active mining and reclamation activity.

“Changes in the McLeod River water quality at sites downstream of active mining included increasing trends in 11 metals, including selenium. Significant increasing trends in dissolved nitrogen were also observed at sites downstream of mining activity, which may be associated with nitrogen-based explosives used in blasting at surface mines. In addition, total dissolved solids and its components also increased over time at sites downstream of active mining in the McLeod River. Downstream of closed mines and reclamation activity in Luscar Creek and Gregg River there were some improvements in water quality over time including decreasing trends in some metals, including selenium as well as dissolved nitrogen. For some metals, including selenium, concentrations downstream of reclamation were still above recommended guidelines for the protection of aquatic life. Surface water quality data from 2005 to 2016 showed most metal and dissolved solids concentrations were higher at sites downstream of past mining activity than upstream reference sites in Gregg River and Luscar Creek.

“Downstream of active mining in the McLeod River, water quality changes can act as indicators of mining impacts. Similarly, water quality changes downstream of reclamation activity may be indicators of reclamation success. In particular, parameters that were both increasing downstream of active mining in the McLeod River and concurrently decreasing downstream of mines undergoing reclamation in its tributaries (Gregg River and Luscar Creek) could be identified as signals of water quality changes after active mining closed and reclamation efforts are initiated. Further research is required to assess the ecological effects of water quality changes in the McLeod River and its major tributaries to understand the long-term effects of mining effluent on aquatic systems.”


REPORT 3

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 (Alberta, Canada). Water samples were collected downstream of two historical coal mines: Tent Mountain and Grassy Mountain. Tent Mountain hosts 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. Further downstream, a well-dated sediment core from Crowsnest Lake records increases in sediment, selenium, lead, carbon, nitrogen, and polycyclic aromatic compounds that closely tracked the history of mining at Tent Mountain. In contrast, episodic discharge of mine water from abandoned underground adits at Grassy Mountain drive periodic (but short-term) increases in iron, various metals, and suspended sediment. These results underscore the lasting downstream impacts of abandoned and even reclaimed coal mines.”


REPORT 4

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. Vast quantities of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), a toxic class of organic contaminants, are emitted and transported atmospherically far from emission sources. Summed PAC (ΣPAC) snowpack concentrations ranged from 29–94,866 ng/L. Snowpack ΣPAC loads, which account for variable snowpack depth, ranged from <10 μg/m 2 at sites >50 km southeast of the mines to >1000 μg/m 2 at sites in the Elk River valley near mining operations, with one site >15,000 μg/m . Outside of the Elk River valley, snowpack ΣPAC loads exhibited a clear spatial pattern decreasing away from the mines. The compositional fingerprint of this PAC pollution matches closely with Elk River valley coal. Beyond our study region, modeling results suggest a depositional footprint extending across western Canada and the northwestern United States. These findings carry important implications for receiving ecosystems and for communities located close to mountaintop removal coal mines exposed to air pollution elevated in PACs.


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

Refer also to:

2021: Mountains Not Mines mugs are back in stock! (I was sent my very own mug and chocolates.)

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