This past Thursday, April 10th, the Lethbridge City Council slotted a window of time to hear from members of the public with regard to the Grassy Mountain issue. They did, in fact, vote 9-0 against the mining of Grassy at an earlier meeting but wished to provide an opportunity for further input.
Lorne Fitch was able to attend and provide council with a brief delivery which highlighted key points from a much weightier 50 page paper of a few years ago, a collaboration between Lorne and four other colleagues in the biological sciences.
A Northback delegation will now be presenting to High River Council on Monday, April 14th. Apparently, they will be assurring Mayor and Council that they have the means of capturing selenium with no worries. Mayor Craig Snodgrass has Lorne’s presentation paper in hand for further evidence to dispute the company’s nonsensical claim.
His brief to Councils reads as follows:
Issues Related to Coal Mining in the Eastern Slopes of Alberta
Lorne Fitch, P. Biol.
Myself and four of my provincial fish and wildlife biologist colleagues dealt with coal development throughout the extent of the Eastern Slopes over a 50 year period. As retired biologists we recently prepared a report on our experiences and evidence for the Alberta Coal Policy Committee.¹ Some excerpts from it may be informative.
Coal mining operations in mountain and foothill settings, with steep terrain features were (and will be) subject to repetitive slope, road and settling pond failures, due to poor engineering design and a repeated inability to factor in weather events. Every mine in the Eastern Slopes had acute or chronic failure rates, many repeated events and with catastrophic impacts on downstream watercourses and the aquatic environment. These still occur today.
We found there was a tendency for coal mine proponents to avoid answers to some impacts by deferral to some other unstated subsequent plan, action, monitoring, design, or concept. It was virtually impossible then, to realistically determine outcomes and consequences of some mine operations.
Mitigation/compensation actions proposed and undertaken tended to be untested, unproven, unsuitable, theoretical, and overly optimistic.
Coal mines entirely remove existing, functional ecosystems replacing them with a completely foreign and poorly understood state. This altered state can have effects on ecosystems, water quality, lands, and fish and wildlife populations for long distances downstream. The impacts on water quality from selenium in the Elk River, BC, now extend downstream for 925 kilometres. No matter the effort, the Humpty Dumpty of a mountain can’t be glued back together.
Legacy issues from coal exploration and development are rarely profiled and any learnings are routinely ignored. Coal mines in the Eastern Slopes are shown to produce significant issues with selenium contamination of receiving waters. The impacts of selenium on the aquatic environment and fish are not trivial.
Current treatment methods are at best, concepts, not proven technologies and have not been demonstrated to be workable at mine scales, over lengthy time periods, including beyond the mine life. The Tent Mountain mine has been closed for over 40 years and yet selenium concentrations are 92 times over the threshold to maintain aquatic life. Native cutthroat trout have been extirpated from the streams beneath Tent Mountain. High selenium concentrations in the McLeod River are responsible for a 92 percent reduction in native Athabasca rainbow trout.
Several selenium treatment technologies have been promoted yet none of them have been clearly demonstrated as effective at commercial coal mine production scales at removing sufficient selenium so as to not impair or destroy downstream fisheries and impair other aquatic life. Mere reference to what percentage of selenium is removed prior to effluent release is scientifically and ecologically meaningless; the removal of 95% of selenium prior to effluent release is irrelevant if 99.9% has to be removed to provide sufficient downstream environmental protection. All mine-impacted water has to be treated to ensure protection of downstream aquatic life. The inescapable difficulty of doing this does not seem to be acknowledged by mining companies.
Native trout are the gold seal of water quality. They are indicators, sentinels and report cards on activities in their watersheds. If their populations diminish or disappear it is a signal we should heed.
Every independent cumulative effects assessment and associated study indicates that maintaining the status quo in land use (i.e., increasing the footprint) leads to, or has exceeded the thresholds for ecological integrity and resilience. Maintenance of any metric of ecological integrity (i.e., water quality, stream flows, biodiversity) cannot be assured with coal development, on top of timber harvest, petroleum development, and recreation (especially motorized forms).
The Eastern Slopes of Alberta’s Rockies are not a frontier of unrealized possibilities—instead, they are a busy landscape where expectations already exceed the ability of the landscape to absorb these dreams. There are no longer places in the Eastern Slopes (including current Category 4 lands) where coal development can be safely, effectively, and environmentally accommodated.
When Donald Trump threatened Canada and treated our Prime Minister with disrespect, Mark Carney showed us that he is the adult in the room.
He handled the situation perfectly. He responded clearly and succinctly.
He did not whine or cry or thump his chest.
He drew the line.
I joined this fight from Saskatchewan when Jason Kenny, Sonia Savage and Jason Nixon played their game. The game ended when minister Wilkinson put the hammer down and we witnessed the AER capitulating just before the federal decision so they would look good. I then watched the Kenny government and Sonia Savage established the coal policy committee. My thoughts at the time were suspicious of those who would agree to be members of this committee. When I watched Ron Wallace and Sonia Savage deliver their findings, the double talk was clearly evident. It left the door wide open for the UCP government to continue to meddle and write the rules that supported coal mining.
Now I’ve been watching the fight against Danielle Smith and Brian Jean.
I’ve also been watching all those opposed to coal mining do the same thing over and over and again.
Writing letters to MLA‘s who are obviously not not listening. Holding peaceful protests with no success.
Wasting time and energy.
I’ve been posting my question, nearly daily on the Facebook page. Why is no one lobbying the federal government? No one!
I’ve also been following Kevin Turner who has been fighting his fight alone to expose valid reasons why many of the opponents might not be telling the whole truth about why they are in this fight.
This is not primarily about protecting the ecosystem.
Now, disappointingly the council at high River is about to allow a coal mining company the time to state their case. It has been CLEARLY established that they have no case. THERE IS NO SAFETY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT REGARDING COAL MINING. if I were a counsellor at High River I would not allow my time to be wasted by liars and thieves.
Thus far, Mark Carney has spoken about the safety of the environment being a priority. Consultation with first nations being a priority.
He has also very subtely but clearly indicated his displeasure at the actions of Danielle Smith.
I think it’s time for everyone to realize that he and his minister of the environment must be called in once again to shut down the circus.
After Marc Carney wins this election, his government must be begged to step in and shut Danielle Smith and the coal companies down.
They are the only ones with the power to stop this corruption. Those that are seemingly going to lose whatever they have invested in the game and are trying to protect now will just have to suffer the consequences which at that time will probably be exposed.
P.S. should Pierre win this election, so do Danielle Smith and the coal mining companies and our precious water and environment will be damaged, very much to our detriment.
"The impacts on water quality from selenium in the Elk River, BC, now extend downstream for 925 kilometres."
Add prospective Selenium poisoning to the Orphan wells and pipelines, tarsand containment ponds and the "carpet bombing" of subsurface Alberta by fraccing to the ever expanding list of environmental insults to the "Princess Province"!