Author: Simon Wiebe

Elk Valley mine named in report on Hyundai’s harmful steel supply chain

February 3, 2025 by Simon Wiebe

The Elk Valley’s Line Creek coal mine has been named in a new report exposing environmental impacts and human rights abuses occurring in Hyundai’s steel-making supply chain around the world.

Record Ridge mine to require EA after Wildsight challenge

September 17, 2024 by Simon Wiebe

Wildsight’s challenge to West High Yield Resources Ltd’s Record Ridge mine proposal has resulted in the province determining that a full environmental assessment will be required before the mine continues.

Contamination of Elk Valley drinking water indicates spread of selenium pollution

August 15, 2024 by Simon Wiebe

In December 2023, the City of Fernie announced it would begin immediately exploring for a new secondary water supply, with workers operating seven days a week until Christmas Eve. In June 2024, it continued its investigations with pumping tests performed…

Take action: Record Ridge mine needs an environmental assessment

May 14, 2024 by Simon Wiebe

From May 15 to June 14, the public can have a say about Wildsight’s request for an environmental assessment on the proposed Record Ridge industrial mineral mine, near Rossland, B.C.

Report reveals Elk Valley’s $6.4 billion water pollution problem

March 19, 2024 by Simon Wiebe

A new Wildsight-commissioned report has revealed it will cost at least $6.4 billion to reverse rising selenium concentrations in Canadian and United States waterways due to toxic runoff from British Columbia’s Elk Valley coal mines

The importance of critical minerals should not condone their extraction at all costs

March 6, 2024 by Simon Wiebe

Here in the Kootenays, we have a long history of mining a wide range of materials, including gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc and gypsum. Many of these minerals, like zinc and copper, would very easily fit into most critical mineral definitions.

Proposed Crown Mountain coal mine could fan the flames of selenium crisis

February 20, 2024 by Simon Wiebe

NWP Coal Canada is forging ahead with its plans to build a new metallurgical coal mine in British Columbia’s Elk Valley, a region already plagued with the fallout from an international water pollution crisis.

What Fernie’s water woes mean for Elk Valley groundwater

January 2, 2024 by Simon Wiebe

In early December, the City of Fernie announced it would begin immediately exploring for a new secondary water supply, with workers planning to operate seven days a week until Christmas Eve. Rush jobs and hiring skilled workers to operate without days off is expensive. It begs the question: what exa

This unlucky fern’s love of magnesium-rich soil could be its downfall

November 30, 2023 by Simon Wiebe

On Record Ridge near the town of Rossland, British Columbia, the perfect conditions exist for a very particular plant called the mountain holly fern to grow. This fern grows in just two isolated areas in B.C., and is listed…

Teck coal sale highlights water quality costs

November 22, 2023 by Simon Wiebe

In 2022, Teck profited a staggering $6.4 billion from their steelmaking coal mines in southeast BC’s Elk Valley, making up 60% of Teck’s total global revenue. Teck’s coal profits in 2022 doubled from the previous year…