Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes join in call for Canadian action against selenium

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, alongside 10 other tribal nations, has sent a letter to the Canadian government asking it to address mining in British Columbia because of the harm they say it is causing on indigenous lands in Montana and other border states.

The letter, addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby of British Columbia, was released April 19.

“Canada and British Columbia’s recklessness endangers our waters, territories and cultural survival,” the letter reads.

The letter asks the governments of Canada and British Columbia to support a joint reference to the International Joint Commission, which addresses mining pollution in transboundary and traditional waterways.

When the International Joint Commission receives a government request, called a reference, it appoints a board with experts from both countries to study and recommend solutions to transboundary issues.

According to the letter, the U.S. government, First Nations and Tribes, and the U.S. and Canadian International Joint Commission members have requested a joint reference for years, “yet Canada has repeatedly delayed any material progress to [that] end.”

Canada and the United States created the International Joint Commission in 1912 to cooperatively mitigate the effect of pollution in lake and river systems along the border. The body’s responsibilities include approving projects and investigating transboundary issues with an eye to recommending solutions.

The letter also requests support for the creation of international watershed boards in each region to oversee the governance of mining impacts, calls for a moratorium on mining permitting until a formal process is in place for consultation and seeks to permanently prohibit mine waste dams, among others.

In March, President Joe Biden met with Trudeau in Canada, where the pair announced a commitment to address mining contamination from large-scale open pit coal mining in British Columbia.

A written resolution from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes from the beginning of March referenced the Tribes’ Constitution, which gives them “power and duty to protect the health, economy, security and general welfare of the Tribes and thereby all the residents of the Flathead Reservation.”

As a result of actions in Canada, the transboundary waters of the Kootenai and Elk River systems — important watersheds for both livelihood and culture — are seeing increased selenium and nitrate contamination from over a century of open-pit coal mining in British Columbia.

In 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency developed a nationwide standard for selenium concentration at 1.5 micrograms per liter in lentic aquatic systems, or standing waters like lakes and ponds, and 3.1 micrograms per liter for lotic aquatic systems, or flowing waters such as rivers.

Owing to an increase in selenium in Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River in Montana, the state Department of Environmental Quality pursued a site-specific standard for the water bodies in 2020: changing the criteria to 0.8 micrograms of selenium per liter on the lake while maintaining 3.1 micrograms per liter on the river.

The standard for dissolved selenium concentration, as established by the states of Montana and Idaho and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, is 0.8 micrograms per liter in the American side of Lake Koocanusa. According to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, waters flowing across the international boundary have “substantially exceeded this water quality standard” since it was approved under the U.S. Clean Water Act in February 2021.

According to the tribes, measurements of selenium have reached 4.99 micrograms per liter in Lake Koocanusa and 1.4 micrograms per liter in the Kootenai River.

Higher levels of selenium in waterways can affect the food chain and lead to excess levels in fish, which is linked to reproductive problems and deformities.

The letter, signed by 11 tribal executives, is just the latest call for action.

“The undersigned Aboriginal First Nations and Indigenous Tribes of Canada and the United States call on the government of Canada and British Columbia to honor their legal and ethical obligations and act immediately to protect our recognized traditional territories from legacy, operational and proposed mining in British Columbia,” the letter reads.

The letter says the tribes have requested action, to no success, for over a decade.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester has also called on Canada to cooperate on confronting the issue. He sent a letter to Biden shortly before the president’s March visit with Trudeau. One of Tester’s main concerns dealt with selenium pollution in the Kootenai River and Lake Koocanusa.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality found that the source of elevated selenium in Lake Koocanusa originates from the Elk Valley in British Columbia as a byproduct of mining operations.

The letters come after an ongoing pressure campaign by Canada’s Teck Resources to strike Montana’s water quality standard for selenium, another byproduct of the company’s coal mining operations in British Columbia. Montana adopted the tighter standard for Lake Koocanusa in December 2020. Teck wants the state to toss out that standard.

The tribes’ letter ends asking for a timely and substantive response on the matters.

“Canada and British Columbia can no longer stand in the way of the Indigenous-led call for an international response to the past damage and increasing threats posed by British Columbia mines,” the letter reads.

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.