State officials denied a petition submitted by the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners that sought to ease selenium standards on Lake Koocanusa.

The petition failed to “provide sufficient evidence” to support raising the maximum amount of dissolved selenium allowed in the lake from 0.8 micrograms per liter to 1.5 micrograms per liter, according to a Sept. 2 decision issued by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. 

“It puts a handcuff on us,” said Lincoln County Commissioner Noel Duram of the stricter requirement. “It doesn’t put a handcuff on anybody else. I want the Department of Environmental Quality, I want the Enivronmental Protection Agency, and I want us collaboratively to be able to put the handcuffs on the right people, not on Lincoln County.” 

Studies have traced elevated levels of selenium in Lake Koocanusa to runoff from metallurgical coal mines in British Columbia. Rainwater and runoff flush selenium from the mines’ waste rock into nearby streams, and the metalloid is then carried downstream, first to the Elk River and then to Lake Koocanusa.   

While considered an essential nutrient in trace amounts, selenium can become toxic in large quantities. Excess exposure can lead to neurological and reproductive defects in fish. In humans, excess levels of selenium can cause gastrointestinal distress, organ failure and, in rare cases, death.  

The Environmental Protection Agency typically recommends that selenium concentrations in still freshwater environments like Lake Koocanusa not exceed 1.5 micrograms per liter. 

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality adopted the stricter 0.8 microgram per liter standard in 2020 after samples taken from the eggs and ovaries of several fish showed potentially dangerous levels of selenium. At the time, the department stated that water samples showed an average concentration of about 1 microgram of selenium per liter.   

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, fish egg and ovary samples are “the most robust and consistent measurement” for determining selenium toxicity. The federal agency recommends that data from egg and ovary samples should take primacy over other sampling techniques.   

The petition from Lincoln County questioned the scientific models and processes used to determine the site-specific standard for Lake Koocanusa. In an email to the Department of Environmental Quality, Duram suggested that publicly available data on selenium levels in the reservoir was inaccurate. 

“The environmental movement is persistent and uses any possible tactic to attain their goal of shutting down human activities,” wrote Duram. “The fraud that has been done on this issue all seems to be on one side, the side of alarmist environmental groups.” 

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the agency charged with collecting many of the fish tissue samples from Lake Koocanusa, refuted the county’s claims. In written comment opposing the petition, Fisheries Division Administrator Adam Strainer said the current selenium standard was “grounded in robust scientific research.” 

He noted that 21% of fish ovary samples collected from Lake Koocanusa between 2021 and 2024 had concentrations of selenium higher than the recommended amount. 

“Weakening the standard would pose even greater risks to aquatic life and ecosystem health in Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River,” wrote Strainer. 

About 300 commentators, including representatives from environmental groups, fishing outfitters and tribal nations, wrote in opposition to Lincoln County’s petition. 

The petition received support from Elk Valley Resources Operations Limited, which operates four coal mines in British Columbia, and the North American Selenium Working Group, which coordinates efforts among mining industry professionals to commission research on selenium standards. 

This is the second petition that Lincoln County has filed against the site-specific selenium standard for Lake Koocanusa. In 2021, both the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners and Teck, the Swiss corporation that owns the mines in British Columbia, submitted similar petitions to the Department of Environmental Quality. 

In April 2022, the Board of Enviornmental Review, the quasi-judicial body that oversees environmental permit disputes, ruled in favor of Teck and Lincoln County. The Department of Environmental Quality subsequently sued. Oral arguments on the case took place on July 29. 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at 758-4433 or [email protected].