Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality on Tuesday denied a petition to weaken Lake Koocanusa’s standard for selenium, a pollutant stemming from Canadian coal mines that can have adverse effects on fish and wildlife.
The Lincoln County Commission submitted the rulemaking petition challenging the current site-specific standard of acceptable selenium concentration of 0.8 micrograms per liter of water, a more stringent threshold than the federal standard of 1.5 micrograms per liter. The commissioners asked DEQ to align with the federal standard, saying it was in the best interest of the county.
In a phone call with the Daily Montanan on Wednesday, Commissioner Noel Duram said he was disappointed in DEQ’s decision, but wanted to continue working with the department on the issue.
“We might be disagreeing with how things work, but we both have a goal to provide a safe environment for our community,” Duram said.
During an Aug. 14 public hearing, Duram said the standard affected Lincoln County specifically, by limiting additional discharge into Lake Koocanusa, the Daily Montanan reports. He said the economic interests of the county would be stymied by such a stringent standard, which could prevent companies from investing in industries, such as mining, but DEQ rejected that argument.
“Fishing and recreational tourism on Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River downstream generates significant revenue and jobs in Lincoln County and elsewhere, as supported by public comments,” according to DEQ’s statements rejecting the petition, which said the commissioners provided no evidence of economic hardship under the stricter standard.
And while representatives from Elk Valley Resources and the North American Selenium Working Group wrote letters in support of a weaker standard, the overwhelming sentiment of the public was for keeping it as is.
Nearly a dozen opponents to the petition pushed back against Duram’s comments at the hearing, claiming Koocanusa had some of the worst selenium contamination in the world and continued acceptance of high levels of pollutants would negatively impact the lake’s clean water and aquatic life.
“Selenium is a scary element, and we’re not talking about a little bit of pollution here,” said Derf Johnson, deputy director for the Montana Environmental Information Center, during the hearing.
MEIC praised DEQ’s ruling in a press release as a “clean water victory,” adding that the organization would continue to defend the protective standards.
In DEQ’s rejection of the petition, the department stated the commissioners “did not provide sufficient evidence to support their proposed rule amendment,” citing data from federal researchers showing the high concentration of selenium in fish.
Selenium is a mineral often found in coal-rich deposits. While the element is an essential nutrient for animals, it is toxic in high concentrations and high accumulations in fish can lead to growth inhibition, reproductive defects and increased mortality.
Upstream of Lake Koocanusa along the Elk River, four active mountaintop-removal metallurgical coal mines are operated by Elk Valley Resources, a subsidiary of Swiss mining conglomerate Glencore. The mining operations have leached various pollutants into the Elk River, including selenium and nitrates, according to multiple studies spanning more than a decade.
Montana instigated its site-specific rule in 2020, and it the standard has been embroiled in litigation on both sides of the border and attempts by Montana officials to revert to the looser, federal standard.
But opposition to further change bas been strong.
The Department of Environmental Quality also received nearly 200 public comments urging DEQ to reject the petition and keep the stricter standard, including from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and several federal agencies.
“The transboundary Kootenai watershed sits entirely within [the] transboundary Ktunaxa territory and provides critical habitat for rare and threatened fish species, including bull trout, burbot, westslope cutthroat trout, and endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon. Unabated selenium inputs from the Elk Valley mines into Koocanusa Reservoir demonstrate a clear, increasing trend dating back to 1985,” wrote Michael Dolson, Tribal chairman of the CSKT, which is part of five Tribal governments comprising the Ktunaxa Nation. “Selenium leaching from the mines in the Elk Valley of British Columbia is resulting in degradation of water quality and presenting unacceptable impairment and risks to CSKT and Ktunaxa resources.”
Representatives from the Idaho Conservation League also weighed in during the public hearing and with written comments, asking the state to protect the downstream Kootenai River that winds through northern Idaho.
“So much selenium is contaminating Lake Koocanusa that after it is released through Libby Dam and flows downriver into Idaho, it has caused the Kootenai River in Idaho to be designated as impaired with selenium under the Clean Water Act,” said Jennifer Ekstrom, the League’s North Idaho Director. “We are writing to urge you to once again stand up for Montana, and for Idaho, by rejecting this ill-founded petition.”
The Lincoln County petition argued that in addition to potential economic impacts to the county, the data from fish tissue and ovary samples tested for selenium in recent years did not accurately represent the pollutant’s concentration and were not consistent with state and federal tissue sampling procedures.
But researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey submitted comments showing that “In short, these data showed that during the time of sampling (2020 and 2021), fish ovary selenium concentrations often exceeded the Montana Kootenai/Koocanusa fish egg/ovary selenium criterion,” for two fish species, with selenium concentrations in the water found to be higher than the current 0.8 standard.
Further data collected downstream of Libby Dam showed selenium concentrations in a majority of fish sampled also exceeded the selenium criterion, “even though selenium concentrations in river water were consistently less than the proposed criterion of 1.5 micrograms per liter,” the USGS letter states.
Duram said one of his biggest problems with the decision to keep the strict standard is that areas of Lake Koocanusa currently exceed the site-specific standard.
“Setting a standard that is vastly lower than the existing level is insane,” Duram said. “If they’re going to set a lower standard, I think they’re obligated to fix it.”
He also pushed back against environmental groups, which he said were spreading misinformation about how polluted the waters are, saying the lake “isn’t compromised.”
Selenium pollution in Lake Koocanusa has been a concern for both countries and tribal nations in the area for years, with the transboundary Ktunaxa nation raising concerns about water quality in 2012 and the British Columbia government subsequently ordering the mining companies to stabilize and reduce contaminants leaching into the Elk River.
Last year, the International Joint Commission, an organization created by the United States and Canada to resolve disputes related to shared waterways, convened a board of experts to study the issue of transboundary pollution in the Elk-Kootenai River Basin. The commission’s plan of study, released in March, outlines a series of objectives for the board, including collecting and analyzing data on water quality and pollutants, determining impacts to ecosystems and human health, and identifying possible mitigation and remediation efforts.
A preliminary report is expected this fall, with a final report to the IJC provided in September 2026.
Due to the international efforts to study the pollutants in Lake Koocanusa and nearby waterways, the federal Environmental Protection Agency recommended the state of Montana “consider whether it is appropriate to make any potential revisions to the Lake Koocanusa selenium criterion at this time, given these efforts are still underway and may result in newly developed information,” according to agency comments. “Both the IJC and ENV efforts could help inform DEQ on selenium data, information, and science for Lake Koocanusa.”
The Department concurred with that assessment, writing in their decision, “it would be premature” to make any changes before that work is done.
Duram added that the commissioners are not likely to submit another petition, but will hope the triennial review conducted by DEQ next year and the findings from IJC will provide a better, collaborative way forward.
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