Coal mining has been present in the Elk Valley for more than a hundred years.

Located in the southeast corner of British Columbia, mine pollution in the Elk-Kootenai/y Watershed has been a concern for decades. The pollution emanating from the Elk River crosses the U.S./Canada border and has been detected as far downriver as the Columbia River. One major pollutant is selenium, a naturally-occurring trace element vital to human health in small doses, but toxic to both humans and aquatic life at higher concentrations.  Despite international concern, selenium concentrations in the Elk River continue to violate aquatic health standards and even drinking water standards in some cases.

This website contains information, data, stories, and news releases about the pollution emanating from Elk Valley coal mines.

Selenium from mining operations leaches into the river.

Most selenium found in waterways is a result of the natural weathering of rocks, a process that can turn enormous mountain ranges like the Rockies into rolling hills like the Appalachians over hundreds of millions of years.

Mountaintop removal coal mining accelerates this timeline from millions of years to mere decades. The vast volume of waste rock produced through mountaintop coal mining dramatically increases the amount of surface area exposed to the environment and accelerates the rate at which selenium enters our water supply. 

Over a six year period, one of the five Glencore mines in the Elk Valley (doing business as Elk Valley Resources or EVR) averaged an estimated 30 million tons of waste rock per year in just one of their many dump sites. This is enough rock to fill more than 25,000 train cars. In waterways nearest the mines, these waste rocks still cause selenium levels to reach up to 85 times higher than what natural levels would be without mining influence.

Policies limit the amount of selenium in the river, but not to safe levels.

Existing water treatment facilities are not capable of removing enough pollution to safeguard the aquatic environment. Selenium levels just downstream of the Fording River mine peaked at 77 ug/l in 2025 – 38 times higher than BC’s aquatic health guideline and 7.7x higher than the Canadian drinking water maximum. Further downstream near Sparwood, selenium concentrations still peaked at over 5 times this recommended value in 2025. EVR states that 95% or more of the selenium is removed from treated water, however that is only true for only a proportion of the mine-affected water; a large proportion of mine-affected water remains untreated and enters directly into the Elk River.

Polluted waters flow from B.C. into Montana, Idaho, and eventually back into B.C.

This website is a collaboration between:

• Idaho Conservation League
• Montana Environmental Information Center
• National Parks Conservation Association
• Wildsight

The information on this website has been compiled with resources from, but not limited to, the following:

Academia, Government, and Scientific Resources

• Environmental Research
• Environmental Science & Technology Letters
• Heliyon
• Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
• Montana Department of Environmental Quality
• Transboundary Kootenai River Basin Water Quality Portal
• University of Montana, Flathead Lake Biological Station Report
• U.S. Geological Survey

Nonprofits

• Idaho Rivers United

Tribal Nations

• Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes
• Kootenai Tribe of Idaho
• Ktunaxa Nation

Media