Feds must ensure Glencore assumes liability for 'massive' B.C. coal mining cleanup: lawyer

Jordan Fleguel, BNN Bloomberg

Glencore’s acquisition of Canadian mining giant Teck Resources’ coal business last month has led to a litany of environmental concerns, and a B.C. lawyer says the federal government must ensure taxpayers aren’t left footing the cleanup bill.

“The big problem is the potential financial liability that taxpayers might face in paying for a cleanup that is not secured,” Calvin Sandborn, former legal director of the University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre, told BNN Bloomberg.

“Because the mining industry, being volatile, we have companies that go bankrupt, and they leave the taxpayer holding the bag.”

For years, waste rock from Teck’s coal mines in British Columbia’s Elk Valley has been leeching selenium – a chemical element found in coal that is toxic to aquatic life – into the watershed, causing major environmental problems.

“It’s actually one of the most significant water pollution problems in North America, and in fact, in the world it’s one of the worst selenium pollution problems globally,” Sandborn said.

Sandborn added that the leeching impacts not only the local Elk Valley water supply in B.C., but areas further downstream in Montana and Idaho.

The issue has become a sore spot for Canada-U.S. relations, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden both making commitments to address the problem.

Prior to Glencore’s acquisition of their coal mining operations, Teck had spent more than $1 billion in an attempt to remedy the problem, but Sandborn said they’ve been unsuccessful thus far, and selenium levels are “still not satisfactory.”

GLENCORE’S ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Sandborn said that the federal government should only approve of Glencore’s acquisition of Teck’s coal assets if there are assurances that the company will follow through with the cleanup obligations involved in the deal.

However, the Swiss-based company, and largest commodities trader in the world, has already faced a series of environmental issues within its existing Canadian operations as it’s tried to balance its highly profitable coal mining business against its climate goals.

The company has promised to cut its coal output, cut emissions and shift its focus to mining the metals needed for the green energy transition, though shareholders have shown waning interest in the plan.

Sandborn said that while Teck and Glencore will continue to look after their shareholders, the Canadian government must do the same with taxpayers, and ensure the deal includes “adequate bonding” for cleanup costs.

“The government of Canada would be remiss if they do not look after the interests of taxpayers that could end up paying for a cleanup – and we’re talking a massive problem here,” he said.

“(They) would be irresponsible to approve something that doesn’t guarantee that the polluter pays.”

With files from BNNBloomberg.ca's Ben Cousins

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2023.

 

U.S. study finds Canadian mining toxin in American waters; treatment 'a small dent'

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

A new American study has confirmed southeastern British Columbia coal mines are contaminating waters shared by Canada and the U.S., adding the miner's attempts to remove selenium from wastewater aren't making much difference to the amount flowing south.

"It's making a small dent," said Meryl Storb of the United States Geological Survey, lead author of the newly published study. 

"However, the water treatment is much less successful at reducing the total annual mass moving downstream."

Selenium, an element found in coal deposits that is toxic to fish, has been a long-running source of conflict between B.C., Canada and the U.S. government. The contaminant is flowing from steelmaking coal mines in B.C.'s Elk Valley, where mining has gone on for decades. 

Storb said her teams examined selenium levels in the Kootenay River, which flows through similar geography but no coal mines. Levels in the Kootenay are a tenth of those in the Elk River, in which selenium consistently exceeds both B.C. and Canadian environmental protection standards.

She said the overall annual amount of selenium flowing down the Elk River and into Lake Koocanusa has more than quadruped since measurements began in 1985.

Teck says it has installed $1.4 billion worth of water treatment at the mine and is structuring new activity to minimize the amount of runoff. It says it's capturing at least 95 per cent of selenium from current operations. 

Company spokesman Chris Stannell said Teck has quadrupled its water treatment capacity since 2020 and plans to double it again by 2027. He also pointed out that the rate of increase in total selenium in the Elk River has slowed. 

"Monitoring shows selenium concentrations have stabilized and are reducing downstream," he said in a statement. "We expect further significant reductions of selenium ... as additional facilities come online."

Stannell said Montana government data shows selenium water concentrations in Lake Koocanusa have been stable since at least 2012.

Storb agreed Teck's water treatment has been effective at reducing concentrations of the toxin in late fall and winter, when the river is low. 

"This is the time when they can be most effective," she said. "They can treat the highest proportion of water (in the river) and that's the time when concentrations are highest."

But when flow is high, Teck's facilities treat a smaller proportion of the river's flow. Even though selenium concentrations during those high-flow periods are lower, the greater volume of water on the move means the overall flow of selenium downstream has been building. 

"Most of the mass of selenium is being washed downstream during high flow periods — snowmelt, primarily," said Storb. "They're not having much impact on mass reduction."

In 1985, the report estimates just under two tonnes of selenium flowed down the Elk River into Lake Koocanusa. By last year, that had grown to nearly 11 tonnes. 

Teck has said new mining operations are engineered to keep rain and snowfall off waste rock and to channel any runoff into treatment plants. 

But Storb said those new operations will create larger and larger piles of waste rock, increasing the chance for selenium to leach into the environment. 

"It provides a longer path and more material for the water to run over, potentially picking up more selenium as it goes along," she said.

"We've seen these very large increasing trends. Whether or not treatment is going to treat these trends, we don't know that yet."

American officials have been pressing for a joint U.S.-Canada investigation into the situation for years under the International Joint Commission, which deals with interborder water issues. Canada has yet to agree to one. 

This month, Montana Senator Jon Tester wrote to the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken asking him to either get Canada on board with such a probe or begin one without its northern neighbour.

"Our clean water is too important to sit by idly while Canada fails to uphold its end of the agreement," Tester wrote Nov. 14.

Tester said he's been trying to get action on the issue since 2015.

First Nations on both sides of the border have also requested a joint Canada-U. S. investigation. 

Teck is in the process of selling its Canadian coal mines to Swiss-based Glencore PLC. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2023.