Outfitters see benefits to tighter selenium standards

New heavy metal standards for local waterways have left elected officials concerned about impacts on the area’s fishing industry. Local guides, however, celebrated the measures.

Tim Linehan, of Linehan Outfitting Company, said those in his profession are largely in favor of Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s decision to tighten selenium standards for Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River. Mike Rooney, a retired guide who grew up fishing on the Kootenai, echoed Linehan’s sentiments, saying the new levels would improve the long-term health of the Kootenai.

DEQ's Board of Environmental Review approved the selenium standards in December after scientists from multiple federal and state agencies studied the issue for six years. Research supported tightening existing standards to protect aquatic life from the heavy metal, which is leaching into Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River from upstream Canadian coal mines.

The new levels set by BER are 3.1 micrograms per liter for the river and 0.8 micrograms for the reservoir.

These standards are significantly more restrictive than the 5 micrograms per liter level applicable to most Montana bodies of water. However, the new concentrations for the river and reservoir correspond with federally advised standards and methods of approving site-specific standards, according to DEQ documentation.

Since BER approved the new standards, local elected officials have said they are in favor of protecting the area’s bodies of water, but are opposed to the levels set by the board. County Commissioner Jerry Bennett (D-2) expressed concerns that DEQ might list Lake Koocanusa as an impaired body of water. Were this to happen, he said the local fishing industry might have trouble attracting clients.

Linehan said prospective clients were asking about elevated levels of selenium in the lake and river even before BER approved the new standards. So far, the issue hasn’t affected his business.

“I can still sell the Kootenai as one of the best bodies of water in the Rocky Mountain west,” he said.

Since guides practice catch-and-release, clients are not concerned about ingesting selenium. Rooney said outfitters primarily worry about high levels of selenium because the heavy metal could potentially cause fish kills. Large numbers of fish dying in local bodies of water would be a serious deterrent for clients, he said.

Minute levels of selenium are essential for animals and certain plants, but DEQ officials report that — at elevated levels — it can adversely affect a broad range of aquatic life. As the metal travels up the food chain and becomes increasingly concentrated, it can compromise the reproduction of certain species of fish. Moria Davin, public relations specialist with DEQ, said scientists determined that the fish ecosystem of the Kootenai River and Lake Koocanusa were at risk under selenium levels previously in place.

Selenium can be found in higher concentrations in the Elk River, a tributary of the Kootenai River in British Columbia. The heavy metal leaches out of overburden left behind from coal mining operations conducted by Teck Resources. Linehan and Rooney claim to have caught fish with gill deformities potentially caused by selenium in the Elk River.

Linehan said he has even caught fish with gill plate deformities in the Kootenai River. While he acknowledged DEQ and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks do not have empirical data on gill deformities in the Kootenai, Linehan said the years he’s spent on the water have given him an intimate knowledge of the river.

“If you spent 100 days [fishing the Kootenai] we’d see a deformed gill plate,” he said.

Linehan said that while he supports DEQ’s new selenium standards, it doesn’t mean he is against mining.

“I’m by no means anti-mining,” he said. “This selenium issue is unfortunately very real. Teck Industries has been public about saying so as well.”

To address the selenium issue, Teck has constructed a facility that is treating 7.5 million liters of water per day and a saturated rock facility, which is treating up to 10 million liters of mine-affected water per day in the Elk Valley.

According to the company’s website, Teck expects to be able to treat 47.5 million liters per day in 2021.

Nevertheless, the company has opposed lowering selenium standards in the Kootenai and Lake Koocanusa to the level backed by DEQ.

Neither DEQ nor the EPA could enforce the selenium standard in British Columbia, according to Bert Garcia, deputy water division director at EPA Region 8. The purpose of the measures, he said, would be to show Canada that the “standard is set across the border.”

In addition to raising concerns about the impacts the standards might have on the fishing industry, local elected officials have voiced objections on the basis of how the measures could affect potential logging and mining operations and real estate development in the area. Were the state to list Lake Koocanusa as an impaired body of water, State Sen. Mike Cuffe (R-Eureka) worried that it could create a roadblock for new projects.

“How does this thing get used,” Cuffe asked EPA officials in December. “Is this not going to be another objection point — another hoop — for any logging job to jump through, a hoop to jump through if someone wants to build another bridge, a road, a housing development, any kind of commercial development, a gravel pit?”

Darcy O’Connor, water division director for EPA Region 8, said that the new standards concern only selenium. Thus, it could only be used to moderate commercial activities that contribute to selenium levels in the lake.

While scientists have already studied the issue for years, local elected officials promoted slowing the process down. Bennett and Cuffe have advocated for more legislative involvement in the process.

In October, state lawmakers on the Water Interim Policy Committee met to discuss the new standard. Cuffe said the committee voted 5-5 to delay the process. The tie allowed BER to take action on the new standards without further legislative input. State Rep. Brad Hamlet (D-Cascade) a committee member originally opposed to the delay, has since switched his stance and asked for more evidence to justify the standard for Lake Koocanusa. Cuffe cited that as an indicator that lawmakers are not convinced the standards are scientifically justified.

While the new selenium standards are now in place for the lake and the reservoir, the EPA must still review the concentrations. Under the Clean Water Act, the federal agency is required to approve standard submittals within 60 days of the state’s submission or disprove within 90 days.

O’Connor said that due to the constrained time frame, EPA would not consider additional comments when reviewing the science used by DEQ to justify the new standards.