Protecting the Kootenai River from mountaintop removal coal mining

By Jennifer Ekstrom
Reader Contributor

Pollution from five mountaintop removal coal mines in the Canadian Rockies is flowing downstream through British Columbia, and into the Kootenai River of Idaho, Montana and beyond. Selenium and other contaminants threaten drinking water, fisheries and tribal cultural resources. The crisis has been escalating since mining began in the 1960s. 

Glencore, a multinational mining corporation with a troubling human rights and environmental record, owns the mines and exports coal primarily to India, China, Japan and elsewhere in Asia. Glencore pockets the profits while leaving downstream tribes, First Nations and communities like Bonners Ferry to bear the consequences. 

A recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey found that over the past 38 years, selenium concentrations in the Kootenai watershed have more than quadrupled. This increase is likely the largest ever recorded in a peer-reviewed study anywhere in the world. By the end of 2022, selenium concentrations jumped 551%.

Despite the scale of the problem, this is a hopeful moment — marked by international diplomacy and rising demands for accountability. 

The historic referral of the Elk-Kootenai watershed crisis to the International Joint Commission under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 marks the first time in history that this formal diplomacy effort includes Indigenous peoples. The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, as part of the larger transboundary Ktunaxa Nation, has their rightful seats at the negotiation table, as they work to defend their sustenance fisheries, culture and way of life.

As a member of the IJC Public Advisory Group, the Idaho Conservation League is advocating for strong regulatory recommendations that are ultimately implemented by the regulators overseeing the mines. Without sustained public pressure, even the most robust recommendations risk becoming little more than reports on a shelf.

The IJC is expected to release its recommendations in early 2027. The period surrounding the release will be pivotal: decision makers will either enact those recommendations to protect water quality and communities, or continue to defer to polluters.

Meanwhile, Glencore is advancing plans for a massive expansion of the Fording River Mine, which would entirely obliterate Castle Mountain and lock in mining into the 2060s. The expansion would destroy a rare high-elevation grassland that is critical for bighorn sheep. 

Permits for this expansion should not even be considered until the IJC process is complete, its recommendations are implemented and selenium levels are adequately reduced. 

Because there is so much at stake, we have joined with partners on both sides of the international border to ask the Canadian government to assign an independent review panel, which would ensure a transparent and thorough review of the proposed expansion. Castle Mountain will go down in history as a symbol of whether regulators are willing to draw a line.

In hopeful news, a Montana District Court recently ruled to uphold the protective selenium water quality standard for Lake Koocanusa, after the mining corporation attempted to undermine it. That decision affirmed the science-based selenium limits necessary to protect fish and other aquatic life, and underscored the ability of communities to successfully push back against major polluters.

To bring these issues into focus, ICL is producing Shared Waters, a documentary film

telling the story of a watershed under pressure and the people working to protect it. It centers on the leadership of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho and the broader Ktunaxa Nation, while also highlighting lived realities in places like Fernie, B.C., and Bonners Ferry. 

As the foundation of a broader campaign, ICL and its partners will launch a coordinated film screening effort to create accountability when the IJC releases its recommendations. 

Screenings will take place in key communities, creating opportunities to engage directly with decision-makers, with public officials invited to participate. 

The goal is simple but powerful: Ensure that decisions about the future of the watershed are made in full view of the communities they affect.

The Elk-Kootenai watershed is at a crossroads. The combination of multinational diplomacy and a massive proposed mine expansion has created a rare convergence of risk and possibility. Through Shared Waters, ICL and others aim to make meaningful, lasting change inevitable — and to offer real hope for the future of the Kootenai watershed.

Jennifer Ekstrom is North Idaho director of the Idaho Conservation League.