Pristine alpine lake contaminated by dust from mountaintop coal mines, study shows

New Alberta government research has found windblown dust from mountaintop removal coal mines has polluted a pristine alpine lake to the point where its waters are as contaminated as lakes downwind from the oilsands.  The paper, published last week in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, concludes that it's crucial to consider more than just downstream effects from such mines. "It is highly likely that our findings … extend to other mountaintop mining operations with larg