BOISE -- Research commissioned by the J.R. Simplot Co. shows a link between selenium emitted from its phosphate mining operations to significant deformities in trout, including cases of brown trout with two heads.
The research is part of Simplot petition submitted last week seeking to lower water quality standards for two selenium-tainted streams near the company's Smoky Canyon Mine in southeast Idaho.
Simplot is legally obligated to clean up selenium that has been seeping into the groundwater and streams. But company officials also want to change the water quality standards for selenium in Crow and Sage creeks. As part of their request, scientists hired by Simplot found significantly higher rates of deformities and mortality in fry spawned from eggs of trout taken from those creeks compared to eggs from hatchery fish.
