Earthworks, a Washington-based environmental organization with offices in Missoula, Mont., and Berkeley, Calif., and the Crow Creek Conservation Alliance (CCCA), a group of private Idaho landowners, said trout downstream from the J.R. Simplot Co.’s Smoky Canyon Mine near the Idaho/Wyoming border continue to show elevated levels of selenium.
Independent tests confirmed by Simplot’s monitoring data verify that brown trout and Yellowstone Cutthroat trout sampled from Sage Creek and Crow Creek contain selenium concentrations far exceeding the 8.2 mg/kg criteria recommended by the U.S. EPA, the two organizations said.
Simplot’s testing showed fish tissue levels from Crow Creek reached 23 mg/kg in 2018, compared to 10 mg/kg the previous year. Lower Sage Creek samples tested at 34 mg/kg in 2018, down from 46 mg/kg in 2017, but up from under 20 mg/kg in 2010.
Earthworks and CCCA have been conducting their own fish sampling for years with the assistance of a fisheries biologist. About five years ago, Earthworks took over the Greater Yellowstone Coalition’s program of testing native Yellowstone Cutthroat tissue samples from affected streams.
Selenium levels at Sage Creek remain roughly four times the EPA criteria and more than 2.5 times EPA standards in Crow Creek downstream from Sage Creek, the groups said. Crow Creek is about 35 miles from Montpelier in Caribou County near Afton, Wyo.
A chemical element found naturally in soil, selenium can prove toxic in concentrated amounts and cause deformities in fish. In 1996, livestock died from ingesting selenium-tainted vegetation near historic phosphate mines in southeastern Idaho. It has been determined that the primary selenium problem area is within about 75 square miles of active and historic mine leases.
Earthworks and CCCA said selenium has been contaminating Idaho’s water ways for more than two decades, adding that a new $30 million water treatment facility installed by Simplot in upper Sage Creek that started operating in December 2017 is processing only half of polluted flows. Simplot also has rerouted a stream away from tainted waste rock.
“The treatment facility is a step in the right direction, but the pollution continues to flow into our streams and contaminate the trout. I hope Simplot sees that they have more work to do on cleanup and prevention,” said Pete Riede, a CCCA member and private land owner along Crow Creek.
Simplot worked in 2006 with federal and state agencies to install a pipeline to route Pole Canyon Creek around overburden from past mining. It also built an infiltration basin upstream to direct water away from the overburden, and added a cap and cover system in 2013 to further reduce selenium leaching
Bonnie Gestring, Northwest Program Director for Earthworks, expressed concerns about Simplot’s plans to expand its Smoky Canyon Mine, which do not address further steps to reduce the contamination. She called for Simplot to ensure better pollution control and treatment.
“Simplot needs to get a handle on its current pollution before it expands once again. Two decades of pollution is more than the public or any neighbor should have to withstand. … We have streams that really can’t take any more selenium – even a small amount.”
The final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the East Smoky Canyon Mine expansion and draft record of decision are expected to be issued by the U.S. Forest Service in July. A draft EIS was released last fall. Earthworks provided the most extensive comments, according to BLM officials.
Josh Jordan, Simplot Senior Manager of Communications and Public Relations, told Green Markets that company officials have seen the relatively new numbers regarding selenium content in downstream fish. He said Simplot understands the need to reduce those numbers and is committed to eliminating water contamination.
“All the things we are seeing from the water treatment facility are very promising. We will certainly do everything we can to use the latest technology,” Jordan said. “We’re dedicated. We’re there for the long term.”