\u201cThis is a warning bell,\u201d Wiebe said of the McLeod River watershed study. \u201cIt should be extremely concerning for everybody who has any interest in making the world a decent place for future generations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It also raised questions for him, such as, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on in B.C.? Why aren\u2019t we doing our own research?\u201d<\/p>\n
Coal mining is big business in B.C., employing thousands of people and contributing tens of millions in dollars to government coffers at all levels. But there are also long-standing concerns about environmental impacts from coal mining, including extensive water contamination \u2014 now the subject of an international inquiry.<\/p>\n
In response to questions from The Narwhal, a spokesperson for B.C.\u2019s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy said, \u201cThe Elk River watershed is one of the most intensively monitored and studied watersheds in British Columbia, with detailed programs to detect and assess impacts from coal mining and other development.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that isn\u2019t leading to peer-reviewed studies from government scientists. The spokesperson confirmed: \u201cWe do not produce publications for peer-reviewed journals.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Teck-Resources-Elk-Valley-coal-mining-Callum-Gunn-63-scaled.jpg\"\/)
Water pollution from coal mines in southeast B.C. flows through the Elk Valley and into Montana and Idaho. Photo: Callum Gunn<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a concern for Wiebe, who said independent, peer-reviewed studies like those produced by Cooke and his colleagues are \u201cthe gold standard, as they have no financial incentive to keep the status quo.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the independent research points to the same conclusion: coal mining produces huge environmental debts that will last for generations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the Elk Valley, leftover waste rock piles up as mountain tops are stripped to extract coal, and when those piles of rock are exposed to rain and snowmelt, naturally occurring contaminants like selenium leach into the water far more quickly than they would had no mining occurred.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you take down a mountain, you end up really accelerating the natural weather processes of that rock,\u201d Wiebe explained. \u201cIt causes a big problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
While all living things need selenium to live, too much of it can be toxic. For fish, its effect on reproduction is one of its most insidious threats. It can lead to deformities \u2014 curved spines, misshapen skulls, abnormal gills \u2014 and, in a worst-case scenario, reproductive collapse.<\/p>\n
B.C. offers a \u2018version of transparency\u2019 but it\u2019s \u2018still not that useful\u2019: scientist\u00a0<\/p>\n
The spokesperson for B.C.\u2019s Environment Ministry pointed The Narwhal to multiple sources of monitoring data and company monitoring reports and noted the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship is studying high elevation grasslands, including impacts from coal mining, which will lead to future publications.<\/p>\n
The statement noted surface water is monitored at roughly 130 sites and that data is publicly available<\/a>, as is water quality compliance and trend information. Groundwater is also monitored in more than 130 wells and there are extensive biological and aquatic effects monitoring programs underway, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Elk Valley Resources, which owns the four steel-making coal mines in southeast B.C., is required by the province to run more than 25 studies and monitoring programs in the Elk Valley, the statement added. And required reports<\/a> on water quality, aquatic effects and fish population monitoring reports are available on the Elk Valley Resources website.<\/p>\n The spokesperson noted these reports must be completed by qualified professionals, and designs and drafts are reviewed by an environmental monitoring committee composed of scientists and technical experts from the B.C. government, Ktunaxa Nation Council and an independent scientist.<\/p>\n Bill Donahue, a freshwater scientist and a former head of environmental monitoring for the Alberta government, said B.C. has \u201ca version of transparency and data availability that isn\u2019t available in a lot of other provinces, but it\u2019s still not that useful.\u201d<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t appear, for example, that you can batch download selenium data for a period of time across an entire region all at once, he noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also raised concerns about the conflict of interest when industry is responsible for doing environmental monitoring and reporting. And while companies may be required to retain \u201cqualified professionals,\u201d he said the quality of work to meet regulatory standards is typically lower than what\u2019s required for peer-reviewed scientific studies.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also more transparency in peer-reviewed studies, he said. For one thing, it\u2019s clear who did the work. Studies published in reputable journals are also reviewed by other independent scientists with relevant expertise who are not involved in the research, he noted.<\/p>\n The monitoring reports available from Elk Valley Resources, some of which are hundreds<\/a> or thousands<\/a> of pages long, are also not easily comprehensible to the public, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Donahue noted the abstract, introduction and conclusions of scientific studies typically offer a big-picture takeaway. \u201cYou don\u2019t tend to see that in these big regulatory reports,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wiebe credited B.C. with working to hold Elk Valley Resources and the mines\u2019 previous owner Teck Resources accountable for water pollution with some measure of success, but said, \u201cit is clear much more needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Kootenay-River-Teck-Elk-Valley-mines-selenium-7-scaled.jpg\"\/)
While U.S. government scientists have published peer-reviewed studies about pollution from B.C. coal mines in waterways across the border, the B.C. government has not. Photo: Jesse Winter \/ The Narwhal<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Kootenay-River-Teck-Elk-Valley-mines-selenium-33-scaled-1.jpg\"\/)
In Montana, as in B.C., there are concerns about the risks to fish and other wildlife from contaminants that flow downstream from coal mines in southeast British Columbia. Photo: Jesse Winter \/ The Narwhal<\/p>\n