By Emma Graney, The Globe and Mail
The Alberta government has quietly scrapped a series of ministerial orders that banned coal development in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, returning to an older policy that in part relies on land categories to govern where mines are built.
It’s the latest move in the government’s continuing battle to develop coal-mining policy. The years-long saga has included a court challenge by ranchers, public outrage and protests, applications to develop the fossil fuel regardless, and numerous coal companies suing the province for $15-billion saying the government has decimated investor confidence.
Energy Minister Brian Jean said in a letter to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) on Wednesday that he was rescinding ministerial orders which directed the agency to suspend approvals and refuse new applications for coal exploration and development. Mr. Jean said getting rid of the ban would “reduce the regulatory confusion around coal development applications.”
Mr. Jean’s predecessor, Sonya Savage, issued the ministerial orders in 2021 and 2022 in the face of backlash from a public furious that the government had killed a 1976 coal and land protection policy – with no consultation – on the Friday afternoon before a long weekend in 2020.
The governing United Conservative Party’s decision to tear up the stringent 1976 policy raised the prospect of more open-pit mining in the fragile land and crucial Alberta watersheds flanked by the Rocky Mountains.
Mr. Jean directed the AER in his letter Wednesday to lift the suspension of all approvals by the end of the month, and said that Alberta would go back to using the 1976 policy – for now.
Laura Laing, a southern Alberta rancher and vocal opponent of coal mining in and around the Rockies, said Mr. Jean’s decision to rescind the ban has the potential to turn great swaths of the region into industrial wasteland and threaten native grasslands, headwaters and sensitive landscapes.
“I can’t believe our government would sacrifice our cattle industry, water and agriculture to coal development,” she said in a text. “I’m incredibly concerned and angry. All Albertans should be.”
Under the original ministerial orders issued by Ms. Savage, the exploration and development ban were to remain in place “until such time as sufficient land use clarity has been provided though planning activity.”
In December, Mr. Jean announced the foundation of a new coal policy which would require any new coal mine to be underground or use technologies that move minimal amounts of overburden – surface materials such as rocks and soil – to prevent selenium leaching into waterways and poisoning fish, wildlife and downstream communities.
None of the new rules outlined last month would apply to so-called “advanced” projects such as the controversial Grassy Mountain mine in the Crowsnest Pass, which is being developed by Northback Holdings Corp. The AER is currently holding hearings about applications for that project.
Ms. Laing said Mr. Jean’s move to lift the ban is premature, because none of the changes outlined in December are set in stone and a 10-year review of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan – which in part addresses coal mining – is not yet complete.
Mr. Jean told the AER in his letter that it should apply the restrictions of the 1976 policy when evaluating coal exploration and development applications, while also giving “due consideration” to the government’s December Coal Industry Modernization Initiative policy guidance.
Under the 1976 policy, which is back in effect, provincial lands are classified into four numbered categories with respect to coal exploration and development.
National and provincial parks and wildlife sanctuaries are considered Category 1, where all coal exploration and development is banned.
Katie Morrison, the executive director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society for Southern Alberta, said lifting the development ban fails tens of thousands of Albertans who have said no to coal.
“This is a profoundly short-sighted and irresponsible decision by the Minister of Energy and Minerals that puts the health, future and prosperity of Alberta, and our communities, at grave risk,” she said in a statement. “We will be fiercely opposing this new direction.”