A ministerial order issued underneath Alberta’s former surroundings minister mentioned no new functions will likely be accepted till land use planning for the world is full or till the regulator receives a letter from both the province’s power or surroundings ministers authorizing it
At the least two members of the group that advisable a pause on coal mining in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains are involved the province’s regulator seems to have accepted functions to resume an already twice-denied mission, in seeming contradiction of presidency coverage.
“It is rather regarding that this utility seems to have been accepted,” mentioned Ron Wallace, who headed a nine-month public investigation into how Alberta ought to take care of proposals for open-pit coal mines on the japanese slopes of the Rockies — a fee that advisable a moratorium on such growth the federal government shortly enacted.
Final week, the Australia-based firm Northback Holdings resurrected a proposal for the Grassy Mountain steelmaking coal mine within the Crowsnest Go area of southern Alberta, making use of for 3 licences from the Alberta Power Regulator permitting them to divert water, drill and run a coal exploration program.
That’s regardless of a ministerial order issued underneath former surroundings minister Sonya Savage. That order says no new functions will likely be accepted till land-use planning for the world is full or till the regulator receives a letter from both the province’s power or surroundings ministers authorizing it.
“The suggestions from the coal committee had been very clear,” mentioned Wallace.
Neither situation has been met.
Invoice Trafford, one other former member of the committee and an space landowner, mentioned the regulator’s reception of Northback’s utility seems to be going in opposition to authorities coverage.
“No person can work out how the (regulator) might presumably settle for an utility from these guys,” he mentioned. “They need to have instructed these guys there’s no level in placing in an utility as a result of you possibly can’t get previous (the method).”
The ministerial order incorporates an exemption for superior initiatives, outlined as initiatives which have despatched a abstract to the regulator to find out whether or not an environmental affect evaluation is required. Northback has submitted no such paperwork.
A earlier model of the mission, then proposed by Benga Mining, did submit these paperwork. Nevertheless, that plan was rejected in 2021 by each provincial and federal regulators as not being within the general public curiosity.
Nigel Bankes, a professor emeritus of useful resource regulation on the College of Calgary, mentioned these choices killed that mission together with any documentation that accompanied it.
“In my thoughts, there is no such thing as a dwell utility,” he mentioned.
“Benga used to qualify as a complicated mission. However when its utility was denied, I don’t suppose it continues to profit from that exception.”
Teresa Broughton, spokeswoman for the regulator, mentioned that difficulty is being thought-about.
“The (regulator) can settle for and course of functions for issues associated to coal mining if they’re thought-about to be an ’superior coal mission,’” she wrote in an electronic mail. “Whether or not this mission is an ’superior coal mission’ is one thing that will likely be thought-about as a part of the (regulator’s) full technical evaluation of the applying.”
Coal mining difficulty rose to rivalry in 2020
Craig Snodgrass, mayor of the southern Alberta city of Excessive River and an opponent of Rockies coal mining, mentioned each Atmosphere and Protected Areas Minister Rebecca Schulz and Power Minister Brian Jean have assured him they didn’t authorize the regulator to just accept Northbank’s functions.
“They haven’t granted any written permission for Northbank to use to the (regulator) for something,” he mentioned.
Coal mining turned a contentious difficulty within the province in 2020 when the United Conservative authorities quietly reversed a coverage that protected the Rockies from coal mining. Inside months, the province had issued exploration permits for hundreds of hectares, sparking a public backlash that led to Wallace’s fee.
Some welcome Grassy Mountain’s return.
“(We) are thrilled,” mentioned Eric Lowther, a board member of Residents Supportive of Crowsnest Coal, a gaggle of individuals principally from the proposed mine space who search the financial advantages they are saying the mine would convey.
He mentioned the group has met with Northback.
“They’re extra dedicated than ever,” Lowther mentioned. “This can be a nice alternative for our a part of the world and we want it badly.”
Spokespersons from Northback or the Alberta authorities weren’t instantly capable of present remark.
Katie Morrison of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society mentioned if the regulator permits Northback’s functions to proceed as a substitute of throwing them out, it dangers weakening the federal government’s moratorium on coal growth in all places within the province.
“If the (regulator) accepts and approves this utility, it begs to query the power of the ministerial order in really stopping different new coal exploration functions anyplace throughout the japanese slopes of the Rockies,” she wrote in an electronic mail.
Trafford mentioned he can’t perceive why the difficulty is again.
“You really wish to begin this up once more?” he requested.
“It’s exhausting to imagine these guys would really do that.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Sept. 25, 2023.