Remember the backlash two years ago after Jason Kenney’s government opened up coal mining on Alberta’s Eastern Slopes?
Albertans of all stripes rallied to force the Alberta government to back down from issuing permits for coal mining on the Eastern Slopes. It wasn’t just the usual suspects. It was farmers, urban dwellers, celebrities, environmentalists, municipal districts and people from across the political spectrum.
Opposition was so fierce that the government halted its pro-mining push and created a ministerial order in 2022 that banned coal mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies. It was a win for the people.
Although the Alberta public remembers the coal ban, it seems Premier Danielle Smith’s government has forgotten.
Let’s review the facts to help the government get back up to speed.
The Past:
Alberta had a long-standing policy against coal mining in its Eastern Slopes.
However, in 2020, Jason Kenney’s government attempted to open the Eastern Slopes to coal mining. The decision faced significant backlash from a wide range of Albertans.
Due to the uproar, the government reinstated the 1976 Coal Policy, which protected parts of the Rockies from mining. Specifically, the policy stated that no new coal mines or applications would be approved except for lands subject to an ‘advanced coal project.’ Proposals seeking this exemption require a project summary to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to determine whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required.
Benga Mining, an Australian company, proposed an open-pit coal mine in the Grassy Mountain area. This proposal was rejected in 2021 by both provincial and federal regulators, citing concerns about environmental impacts, including water quality and the threat to local species.
The Present:
Fast forward to now, the same company, now operating under the name Northback Holdings Corporation, submitted a new proposal in September to drill and explore in the Grassy Mountain area, near the Crowsnest Pass, approximately seven kilometres north of the community of Blairmore.
This new application seeks permission for a coal exploration program, temporary water diversion, and a deep drilling permit. Northback wants to drill 46 boreholes between 150 and 550 metres deep on a mix of Crown land and its own private land to mine steel-making coal from the Grassy Mountain deposit.
United Conservative Party Energy Minister Brian Jean says that the Nothback Holdings project is exempt from the ministerial order that previously killed it because the AER defines it as an “advanced coal project.”
According to the Tyee, Nigel Bankes, a prominent regulatory lawyer and retired University of Calgary law professor, called the Alberta government’s position preposterous and illegal.
“I don’t see how it can be legal. It was an advanced coal project. The application came before a joint panel review in 2020. The AER was part of that panel review. They denied the application in 2021. In my view, there is no way it can be considered an advanced project. To me, that’s the end of it. The AER should never have accepted the application.”
The Outrage Returns
The Smith government’s fanciful position that a denied application automatically qualifies as an “advanced coal project” has once again infuriated Albertans, reigniting the debate and concerns about coal mining in the region.
Beyond the loss of trust and transparency with the provincial government, Albertans fear massive damage to the lands they love.
And they’re gearing up to fight back once again.
Taber-born country singer Corb Lund released a YouTube video on October 3 expressing outrage at the new application and said: “This project was denied last year by the feds and the provincial government for not being in the interest to the public and the public itself here in the province has roundly rejected it, or the vast majority, in poll after poll after poll… I want to hear from our ag people, our ranchers, and our irrigating farmers who know we’re in the middle of a crippling drought, and we don’t have any extra water allocation to give coal mines upstream. It also is the drinking water for 150,000 people as well as the cornerstone of a billion-dollar agri-food business in Southern Alberta.”
Lorne Fitch, a retired Alberta Fish and Wildlife biologist, told the Tyee, [This] “raises serious questions on whether lobbying efforts have been successful at circumventing government policy related to coal exploration and development.”
High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass told Okotoks Online that the coal company is pursuing the same licenses previously denied. “They’re trying to use a couple of loopholes that we’re hopeful that the AER (Alberta Energy Regulator) and the federal government can see are pretty much, I won’t say it’s illegal, but it’s just now allowed right now.”
“We are very disturbed to learn that Northback Holdings, formerly Benga Mining Ltd., is applying to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to drill 46 new exploratory boreholes in the Grassy Mountain area, along with all of the disturbances that come with such work,” Banff-Kananaskis NDP MLA Sarah Elmeligi and NDP critic for environment Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse wrote in a letter to Brian Jean, Alberta’s Minister for Energy and Minerals.
Indigenous communities, like the Stoney Nakoda Nation and Piikani First Nation, have also voiced concerns emphasizing the need for a proper consultation process and the potential impact on their ancestral lands.
Environmental groups like the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society worry about the ecological degradation that mining can cause, especially the release of selenium, which can be toxic in large amounts. Elevated selenium levels can harm aquatic life and even humans if it enters the drinking water.
The Future?
Frankly, it is hard to understand what the UCP government is thinking.
Poll after poll has shown that most Albertans are against coal mining on the Eastern Slopes.
Coal is a product many jurisdictions, including Alberta, have decided to phase out in the transition to clean energy.
So, what does a renewed interest in approving coal mining while simultaneously issuing a moratorium on renewables say about the government’s priorities?
Maybe the government is running based on the famous quote by John Kenneth Galbraith, “Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.”
Is the government’s memory so short that it has forgotten that Albertans hate the idea of coal mines?
Or are they hoping the public’s memory of past outrage is long gone?
