Mine research links fish deformities to selenium

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A research team hired by the J.R. Simplot Co. has linked selenium discharged from the waste of the company's phosphate mining to high rates of deformities in trout, including cases of brown trout fry with two heads, missing fins and cranial deformities.

Those findings would appear to undermine the company's recent proposal to relax the water quality standards for two selenium-tainted creeks near Simplot's Smoky Canyon Mine in southeast Idaho's phosphate patch.

But to Simplot, the deformity data is just one component of a complex research project that when viewed as a whole supports setting a new standard for measuring selenium concentrations and cleaning up the polluted creeks.

And there is plenty at stake for both the company and environmentalists as the state Department of Environmental Quality begins its review of Simplot's request. For Simplot, working with rules allowing for higher levels of selenium than currently allowed could save time and money devoted to cleanup and future monitoring.

For environmentalists, a change in standard could open the door to legal challenges or other mining companies seeking the same change in a region already impaired by decades of mining. And at least one federal agency has already weighed in, raising concerns about Simplot's research and claims the company is underestimating the potential impacts any change could have on fish.

Last week, Simplot, which has operated Smoky Canyon since 1984 in the forested mountains near the Idaho-Wyoming border, submitted paperwork seeking an exemption from federal water quality standards set for Crow and Sage creeks.

Simplot officials say the current standard — pegged to selenium concentrations in the creek water — is overprotective and sets unrealistic cleanup expectations. Instead, the company is seeking to tie the standard to selenium levels in fish eggs, a change Simplot and some government scientists say more accurately measures toxicity.

The question for state and federal environmental regulators is whether approving Simplot's proposed standard will adequately protect the environment, fish and wildlife.

"From a scientific point of view, we have to ask if it's a standard that is appropriate. Does it protect aquatic life?" said Barry Brunell, administrator of the DEQ's water quality division.

Simplot is one of several companies that have been mining the region for decades, excavating rock to get the phosphate ore that is a key ingredient in farm-based fertilizers and other products. But mining has come at a cost to the environment, and Simplot and other companies are legally obligated to clean up selenium and other toxic mining wastes in a region dotted with 17 separate Superfund sites.

Since the 1990s, selenium has been was blamed for wiping out trout populations in area streams and killing sheep and other livestock that have fed on selenium-laced grass.

In its petition to the state, Simplot argues that changing the water quality standard can be done without bringing any more harm to the environment.

To better understand selenium levels, researchers hired by Simplot compared in a lab setting brown trout fry spawned from eggs squeezed from fish captured from Sage and Crow creeks with eggs taken from hatchery trout.

Results show rates of mortality and deformities — including fry with two heads or severe mouth and cranial malformation — to be anywhere from 75 to 100 percent for the wild fish, depending on how close the wild fish were to the pollution source. The mortality/deformity rate in hatchery eggs is typically 15 percent, according to federal fish biologists.

But for state and federal environmental officials, deformity rates are only part of the equation.

The bigger issue, they say, focuses on Simplot's conclusions on toxicity in the fish eggs.

In its petition, Simplot recommends the standard of 21.6 parts per million for selenium in brown trout eggs, as opposed to the current standard of 5 ppb in water. The Simplot researchers arrived at that value by running their data through a model sanctioned by the EPA.

"The important thing is any new standard has to be protective of the environment," said Alan Prouty, Simplot vice president for environmental and regulatory affairs. "And we think that's going to be the case based on the data we've submitted."

The Environmental Protection Agency, which must ultimately sign off on any standard change for the creeks, for several years has encouraged using fish tissue or ovaries to measure toxicity rather than the water itself.

"This is not new science Simplot is asking to use," said Jannine Jennings, water quality standards manager for the EPA.

But some key conclusions in Simplot's research are drawing criticism from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The agency released a scientific review last week accusing Simplot's research team of making serious errors in interpreting the data and claiming a change in the standard would cause more harm.

The agency's review, requested by a U.S. Senate committee, argues that the 21.6 ppm value is scientifically indefensible and would essentially sanction a deformity rate as high as 70 percent for fish in the two creeks.

Environmentalists are gearing up to oppose Simplot's request, characterizing it as a way for the company to avoid having to spend all the time and money required to clean up its mining mess. In 2006, the company estimated it would cost $120 million to clean up and perform future monitoring on the two creeks and other areas near the mine.

"Any change in the standard would do nothing more than get Simplot off the hook to clean up as much as they should," said Marv Hoyt, Idaho director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. "How does anything being proposed by Simplot help improve the environment or the population of fish in those streams?"

The FWS review also criticized Simplot for failing to consider impacts on birds and animals higher up the food chain.

The state has just started its review of Simplot's proposal, and if it passes environmental muster, the DEQ could begin a rulemaking process then seek approval from Idaho lawmakers.