Groups demand Independent Review Panel for massive pollution-plagued coal project
Governments too vested in approving expansion to be trusted to protect public interest
Wed. July 29, 2026. OTTAWA – Ottawa: An Independent Review Panel must conduct the Impact Assessment for Glencore’s controversial Fording River coal mine expansion (FRX) project in BC’s Elk Valley – because the Canadian and BC governments cannot be trusted to impartially judge the proposal, say environmental groups on both sides of the Canada-US border.
“We are extremely concerned that the actions and comments of the BC and Canadian governments indicate they have already decided to find a way to rubber-stamp the huge mine expansion no matter what the cost to the environment and public,” says Derf Johnson, Deputy Director of the Montana Environmental Information Center. (MEIC).?
Johnson’s group is one of dozens from BC, Montana, and Idaho who signed a joint letter to Federal Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin calling for an independent review of the FRX proposal. Other signatories ranged from the BC, Montana and Idaho chapters of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, to MiningWatch Canada to the Idaho Conservation League.
BC and the two US states are affected by decades of pollution in their shared Elk-Kootenai transboundary watershed, which has been caused by the Elk Valley coal mines.
In her form letter rejecting calls for an independent review, Minister Drabusin promised that Canada and BC will conduct a “rigorous” review of FRX, which would see Glencore’s Elk Valley Resources (EVR) eventually expand the Fording River mine for an additional 30 years of mountain-top removal coal mining.
“The federal government blocked coal mining in Alberta’s foothills back in 2021 based largely on the obvious environmental impacts of mines in the Elk Valley, showing that they understand that these types of mines are not worth the environmental risk.” said Simon Wiebe, Mining Impacts and Policy Lead for Wildsight, which made its own requested for an independent review.
“Frankly, it is mind boggling that the poster child for transboundary mining pollution in North America is still in consideration for getting mine expansions.”
In April, BC Premier David Eby placed FRX on a list of 17 additional priority projects, and in the first week of June, his minister of mines joined the Mining Association of BC in Ottawa to jointly promote the Elk Valley’s metallurgical coal along with critical mineral projects.
“It is pretty certain that BC will use the assessment process to find a way to justify FRX no matter what,” said MEIC’s Johnson. “The Province already knows about the pollution and other problems with EVR’s existing operations, and it is doing everything it can to get this expansion approved.”
Meanwhile, Canada’s federal government is also pushing major resource and infrastructure projects in BC and across Canada and wants to streamline the assessment laws meant to protect the environment and public health.
Minister Drabusin began her rejection of calls for an independent panel by arguing FRX “does not meet the criteria” that would require an Impact Assessment.?
“If this major coal mine expansion does not meet the criteria to require an assessment, there is something very wrong with the criteria – or the way it is being interpreted,” said Jennifer Ekstrom. Kootenai River Campaign Lead for the Idaho Conservation League.
Consider the following:
- In 2021, the Elk Valley mines’ then owners, Teck Resources Ltd, were fined a record $60 million under the federal Fisheries Act for pollution involving the Fording River and ordered to take corrective measures. Just three years later, new charges were laid for ongoing violations affecting the Fording River. This case is still pending
- A November 2023 United States Geological Survey found the level of selenium and nitrate flowing from the mines into the watershed is one of the worst documented cases in the world, despite water treatment efforts by the coal company. A second USGS study a year later found the selenium pollution can be found more than 350 river miles downstream to the Columbia River.
- A June 2024 study by Alberta government scientists found cancer-causing contaminants were being blown onto Alberta and BC snowpacks near the Elk Valley coal mines. Another study of coal mines in Alberta shows that mine reclamation after closure does little to address water pollution problems, with major pollution still present 25 years later.
- A 2024 Burgess Environmental?analysis estimated it would cost $6.4 billion to clean up the toxic selenium already deposited by the coal mines across the watershed – three times the amount bonded by the owners. The bond has since been increased to $3.7 billion, which is still far below the liability.?
- That same year, after more than a decade of pressure from Ktunaxa First Nations and Tribes, Canada and the US finally referred the matter to an independent International Joint Commission inquiry, under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. The IJC panel’s report and recommendations are expected by the end of the year, but Canada and BC are not waiting for the results of this Indigenous-led diplomacy effort. As Drabusin’s rejection letter notes, they are using their own panel to assess the impacts.
“Despite all these concerns and more, BC is moving quickly to approve the expansion of the Fording River Mine, and Canada seems ready to work with BC to fast track its priority projects,” said the Idaho Conservation League’s Ekstrom.
“This all adds up to bad planning, especially considering that the global market for metallurgical coal is forecasted to decline as lower-pollution methods of steelmaking become prominent, and Canadians taxpayers could be left on the hook for cleaning up the mess when the bottom drops out of the market.“
Wildsight’s Wiebe added: “BC and Canada have a long history of paying to clean up mining messes. In the NWT, the Giant Mine’s $4 billion price tag is just one example of Canadian taxpayers footing the bill and covering for government’s failure to hold industry accountable. BC’s bonds have been shown to be inadequate, and we are all being exposed to billions of dollars in risk, not to mention decades of environmental impairment.”
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Derf Johnson, Montana Environmental Information Center: djohnson@meic.org PH: 406-581-4634.?
Simon Wiebe, Wildsight: simon@wildsight.ca PH: 403-467-0582
Jennifer Ekstrom, Idaho Conservation League: jekstrom@idahoconservation.org. PH: 208-318-5812
Sean Durkan, Communications support: Sean.sda.inc@rogers.com PH: 613-851-2151
