Americans say Canadians delaying damning report on B.C. toxins in transboundary river
United States officials are accusing their Canadian counterparts of sitting on damning new data about toxic chemicals from southern British Columbia coal mines in water shared by both countries.
In a letter to the U.S. State Department, Americans on the International Joint Commission say Canadian members are blocking the release of information on contaminants that are many times above guideline levels.
“Canadian commissioners have not been willing to submit a report that addresses selenium pollution in transboundary waters of the Kootenai River drainage,” says the letter to the State Department’s director of Canadian affairs.
The commission was created in 1909 as a way to discuss water that crosses the U.S.-Canada border.