The Alberta government has shelled out $95 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Australian coal mining speculator Evolve Power.
Evolve is one of four companies suing the province for cancelling the 1976 Coal Policy then reinstating it less than two years later in 2022. Northback Holdings, the Australian-owned company pushing for open pit coal mining on Grassy Mountain, is pursuing a separate lawsuit.
Earlier this year, the province also settled with Atrum Coal for $143 million.
Payouts are piling up
That brings the total to $248 million in public funds paid out so far. These funds, generated by hard-working Albertans, could have been put towards services that benefit those who made the money in the first place – hospitals, schools, and rec centers. Instead, they’re going to Australian multinationals.
Evolve owns Montem Resources and did exploratory work at two coal leases, named Chinook and Greenfield. It also has a project on Tent Mountain near Crowsnest Pass.
The company claims that Alberta’s policy flip-flop effectively resulted in the leases for their sites being seized by the government.
In a statement on its website, Evolve said under the terms of the settlement the company will hold onto the Tent Mountain project but surrender its other two leases. Evolve will also be required to undertake reclamation of its coal exploration activities.
The company’s board of directors is voting to return AUD$40 million (CAN$37 million) in capital to its shareholders.
Wahl Citadel, a Melbourne-based investment firm that paid for the litigation, will pocket AUD$35.5 million (CAN$33.4million) in Alberta taxpayer money.
A win for shareholders equals a loss for Albertans
Both lawsuits have been settled out of court. Details of the behind-closed-door negotiations are scarce. In an interview with TheRockies.Life last summer Nigel Bankes, a resource law specialist at the University of Calgary, predicted this would be the Alberta government’s strategy to avoid the embarrassment of having elected officials and key bureaucrats subpoenaed and called to testify under oath.
Originally the companies were going after $16 billion in taxpayer funds.
With only two of five suits settled, Albertans could still be on the hook for $10 billion to compensate for the provincial government’s mishandling of Eastern Slopes coal mining policy.
Energy Minister Brian Jean’s office said they’re settling the lawsuits fairly and in the best interests of Albertans.
However, many Albertans are fuming over the payouts.
“An overwhelming majority of Albertans oppose mining in our Eastern Slopes and now our UCP government is paying hundreds of millions to the companies not to mine. No wonder our classrooms are the most poorly funded in Canada. I think we need a criminal investigation into how the UCP have plundered Alberta,” wrote Maureen Ebe on the Facebook site Protect Alberta’s Rockies and Headwaters.
Mike Hurst, another commentator, wrote that this is money “that should have gone into healthcare and education! If they go to court fighting these lawsuits it will, in all likelihood, uncover more of the corruption, we all know is there. There are stacks of cash being dispersed amongst these UCP jackals and their friends! This is our money that Danielle is freely handing out!”
Opposition NDP environment critic Sarah Elmeligi called the government’s deal with Evolve a waste of public money.
“Their ‘will they or won’t they’ with the coal policy and an unfounded definition of ‘advance[d] projects’ has led to lawsuits that you and I are paying for,” she said in a statement.”That’s money that could have gone to protecting and reclaiming our headwaters, or teachers, schools, hospitals, or to helping families, but instead it’s going to another coal company.”
The Alberta Energy Regulator has been criticized for calling projects like Grassy Mountain an advanced coal project and allowing it to proceed through the regulatory process, despite not having clear policy around Eastern Slopes coal mining. The province claims to be working with industry to develop a Coal Industry Modernization Initiative.
Australian speculators lining up at the lawsuit trough
The government’s payout to Atrum, another Australian company, was particularly controversial. As previously reported in the The Rockies.Life, Atrum has no active mines, no revenue, and its leases on the Eastern Slopes are unproven and without road or rail access.
There are no records showing how much the company spent on their leases. Still Atrum received $143 million in taxpayer money.
Black Eagle Mining Corp. and Cabin Ridge Holdings Ltd. are the other two companies suing Alberta.
Valory Resources owns Black Eagle Mining and also has Australian leadership. According to one news report, the company announced that it would not pursue its lawsuit but did not confirm whether or not it had received a payout from the Alberta government.
The website for Cabin Ridge, which owns a lease in the Livingstone Range north of Crowsnest Pass, provides very little information other than a company address in Calgary.
A lone statement posted to the site and dated June 30, 2022 claims that the “Government of Alberta’s de facto expropriation of Cabin Ridge’s freehold mineral property has prevented Cabin Ridge from continuing to develop its steelmaking coal project and has deprived the Cabin Ridge companies of their substantial investments in Alberta.”
There are no details about what the company calls its “substantial investments.”
