Coal spill a serious risk to aquatic life in Silver Creek

 The question is: What’s the impact of the coal on aquatic life?

Otto Langer is a retired senior habitat biologist with the federal fisheries department whose experience with coal dates back to 1969 at Roberts Bank near Tsawwassen; he later provided expert testimony in coal discharge cases in the Kootenays and Tumbler Ridge.

He said that metallurgical coal is fractured, with sharp edges — “a bit like glass or crushed hard rock” — and can cause problems if breathed in through fish gills or the lungs of other animals.