Our iconic Rocky Mountains are more than just a pretty face. These gorgeous peaks are also home to large deposits of coal. Many towns have shaped their identity around coal mining in the Rockies.
In the late 1970s, Alberta shifted away from coal mining and toward conservation. By 1976, then-Premier Peter Lougheed restricted coal mining in most of the eastern slopes of the Rockies through the Coal Policy.
In addition to the Coal Policy, the Canada National Parks Act is a federal law created to protect natural parks and park reserves across Canada.
There are five federally protected national parks in Alberta. This includes Banff, Elk Island, Jasper, Waterton Lakes, and Wood Buffalo. Willmore Wilderness Park is also off limits, but under its own act.
The Willmore Wilderness Park Act prohibits industrial development, but it also allows park boundaries to be increased or decreased.
In the past, park boundaries have been reduced to allow for industrial development, but park boundaries have never been increased, according to the Alberta Wilderness Association.
However, there is currently no management plan for the park. In 1980, the Willmore Wilderness Park Management Plan was drafted but never completed.
Now, the Rockies, including Willmore, are among the almost 800 protected areas worldwide at risk of fossil fuel development, as claimed in an analysis by the Leave It In the Ground Initiative (LINGO).
LINGO’s mission is to “leave fossil fuels in the ground and learn to live without them.” The organization envisions a future powered by 100% renewable energy.
If fossil fuels from these protected areas were extracted and burned, it would release more than 47 billion tonnes of carbon pollution into the atmosphere, according to the analysis.
That’s more than the global annual carbon pollution emissions of 37 billion tonnes in 2021. Of these protected areas, Willmore has one of the highest potential emissions.
A coal extraction project in this region could pump out almost 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon pollution. Coal mining in Willmore could have a devastating impact both regionally and globally.
