B.C. coal mine's 30-year expansion plan to face further federal scrutiny over risks to environment, Indigenous rights
A proposed expansion of a B.C. coal fine will require further assessment after a federal agency found the project could damage wildlife, water quality, and the health and rights of Indigenous peoples.
Located 29 kilometres northeast of Elkford, B.C., the Fording River operation is one of four steel-making coal mines owned by the multinational Glencore plc through its Vancouver-based subsidiary EVR Operations Ltd.
The company purchased Teck Resources Ltd.'s coal division in 2023, and is looking to extend the life of the mine into the 2060s. EVR is planning to make use of existing infrastructure -- including a processing plant, access roads, power lines, gas lines and rail line -- at the current site.
But to maintain a supply of coal, the company's expansion plans include digging into Castle Mountain, a 2,000-hectare swathe of traditional First Nations territory where high-elevation grasslands support a number of threatened species.
In a decision handed down by Canada's Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) this week, the federal agency raised concerns that the project has the potential to:
* further harm to fish and fish habitat, including species at risk;
* impact migratory birds;
* send more pollution into rivers that flow into the United States;
* and cause health, social, economic and environmental consequences for First Nations while potentially violating their constitutional rights.
IAAC spokesperson Curtis Lu said in an email that the federal agency is co-ordinating with B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Office to provide a single review process that will meet the requirements of both the federal and provincial governments.
Both agencies are now moving to outline what needs to be further measured and studied. Lu said they plan to announce a joint comment period on draft guidelines and plans at an undisclosed point in the future.
Once feedback has been received and assessed, a final report will be submitted to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to help guide their decision on the project.
"Should the minister determine that significant adverse federal effects are justified in the public interest, a decision statement will be issued for the project, which includes enforceable conditions that the proponent must comply with throughout the life of the project," Lu said.
In an email, EVR spokesman Chris Stannell said the company has made refinements to the mine expansion plans. The changes include reducing the expansion's overall footprint, prioritizing "progressive reclamation" (restoring land as mining occurs), and incorporating better water quality measures.
The spokesman added that the company looks forward to continued engagement with Indigenous nations as the project incorporates "numerous measures" to mitigate environmental impacts.
As of 2024, the mine supported 1,500 direct jobs and generated $1.5 billion in annual provincial gross domestic product, according to EVR.
If approved, construction of the $800-million project would occur between 2028 and 2030, with the expansion increasing the mine's current 5,388-hectare footprint by another 2,000 hectares -- an area equivalent to about five Stanley Parks.
That's expected to provide enough coal deposits to extend the Fording River operation for another 30-40 years while securing existing jobs at the site.
"They're running out of coal," said Simon Wiebe, the mining policy and impacts lead for the Kootenay-based conservation group Wildsight. "Thirty years of operation is on the line for them."
Wiebe said he is relieved the federal government is finally recognizing that the mine expansion carries "unacceptable risks" to rivers, wildlife and communities that live downstream of the mine.
In a 2022 memo, Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship ecologist Emily Cameron warned the mine expansion project would almost certainly cause significant and permanent loss of rare and endangered high-elevation grasslands in the Elk Valley.
Cameron also wrote there was "no evidence" that reclaiming a mine area would rebuild high elevation grasslands.
Federal documents suggest the Fording River expansion project would further threaten hunting, fishing and harvesting, as well as plant and mineral gathering rights of the Ktunaxa people on Castle Mountain.
"This expansion would mean destroying even more mountain habitat for threatened bighorn sheep and grizzly bears," Wiebe added in a statement.
A second big concern is water quality and the thousands of tonnes of waste rock that will continue to leach pollutants for decades to hundreds of years into the future, said Wiebe in an interview.
In recent years, Teck and EVR have been penalized tens of millions of dollars for failing to properly control and prevent the release of water contaminated by mine waste into the surrounding environment. The latest round of penalties added up to $3.6 million and was handed to EVR for Teck's past failures to curb nitrate and selenium pollution.
Nitrate can cause direct toxicity and lethal oxygen depletion. In small doses, selenium is an essential element for life, but in high concentrations it can become a dangerous pollutant, causing reproduction failures and deformations in wildlife.
Contamination of the Elk Valley's waterways -- which occurs when water passes through mine waste and into rivers -- has increasingly become an international concern.
Indigenous leaders in Montana say pollution from over 100 years of coal mining on the B.C. side of the border has left fish deformed and unable to spawn.
A 2023 study from the U.S. Geological Survey found multi-decade per cent changes of selenium in the Elk River were the largest ever recorded in a peer-reviewed study -- anywhere.
"At the end of the day, we're continuing to violate international law," said Wiebe.
In 2024, Canada and the United States requested an intervention from the International Joint Commission (IJC), a trans-boundary body tasked with regulating rivers and lakes that span both sides of the border. The request calls on the IJC to carry out a reference study and recommend solutions for mining pollution in the Elk and Kootenay rivers.
A final report is expected in September 2026.