U.S., Canada agree to work on reducing B.C. coal mine pollution

The United States and Canada have agreed to launch a joint probe into a long-running cross-border dispute involving pollution from coal mines in British Columbia flowing into American waters.

"Our two countries are committed to a collaborative, science, and Indigenous knowledge based, action-oriented path forward," said a joint statement from U.S. ambassador to Canada David Cohen and his Canadian counterpart Kirsten Hillman. 

The agreement, announced Monday, involves both national governments, along with B.C., the states of Montana and Idaho, and six Indigenous communities on both sides of the border.

They will work under the auspices of the International Joint Commission, a treaty-based group that mediates water disputes. 

The agreement creates a governance body and a research panel tasked with finding ways to reduce contamination from coal mines in B.C.'s Elk Valley, in the East Kootenay region, flowing into Lake Koocanusa, a reservoir straddling the border and into U.S. rivers.

That governance body is to be running by the end of June, with the final research report due two years after that. 

The issue has festered for a decade, said Kathryn Teneese, chair of the Ktunaxa Nation, which represents the six First Nations in Canada and the U.S. who live along those waters.

"It's been a long time coming," she said. "This is a good start. It's just the beginning of what's going to be a long, aggressive process."

Decades of open-pit mining in southeastern B.C. have exposed selenium, an element toxic to fish that is associated with coal deposits. That selenium has been flowing downstream. 

A recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey confirms contamination is coming from those mines. It adds that the efforts by mine owner Teck Resources to slow those releases aren't making much difference to the amount flowing south.

In 1985, the report estimated 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 installed $1.4-billion worth of water treatment at the mine and is structuring new activity to capture at least 95 per cent of selenium from current operations. Montana government data shows selenium water concentrations in Lake Koocanusa have been stable since at least 2012.

But the report says the selenium continues to be washed downstream, especially during high flow periods. 

American officials, including senators, the State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, have been pressing for years for a joint U.S.-Canada investigation into the situation. U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had promised action by last summer.