Swagman from the Land Down Under dumbstruck by Alberta's newest volte-face on open-pit coal mining
"Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover" (Men at Work)
In response to a Calgary Herald request for comment on Danielle Smith’s clear rejection of surface mining at its contentious Grassy Mountain site, the stunned Australian-owned Northback said only that it “remains committed to bringing benefits to Albertans while adhering to the highest environmental standards.”
With underground mining now established as Alberta’s highest environmental standard, does that mean the Australian buccaneer will abandon its quest to rip open the Grassy Mountain landscape, or will it call on owner Gina Rinehart to rain down sturm und drang on Danielle Smith’s sudden outburst of sovereignty?
Will the premier buckle and reverse Alberta coal policy once again? Or will she stand firm on the side of Alberta voters whom she knows overwhelmingly oppose despoliation of the Rocky Mountains for the benefit of the Land Down Under’s richest person.
While the May 17 edition of Smith’s radio show “Your Province. Your Premier” remains online, and in the absence of any walk-back by her or energy minister Brian Jean, it becomes ever more clear that her shoot-down of Northback and parent Hancock Prospecting was intentional and enduring. Bravely timed, given that Northback is already suing Alberta for previous flip-flops on coal policy.
Writes pre-eminent legal scholar Nigel Bankes on Bluesky:
“Last week the AER approved Northback's application for new coal exploration on Grassy Mountain. That approval killed any hope that Northback might have for compensation. On the weekend premier Smith said Northback would not be able to operate an open pit mine. This revives Northback's compensation claims.”
“Stunning incompetence on the part of the Premier. She has no legal authority to make such a pronouncement. We now have the worst of all possible worlds. New exploration on a dead project and new life breathed into a dead compensation claim. Policy making on a radio show is not a good idea.”
“Seems pretty clear that (1) the Premier is not following legal advice, or (2) that she chooses to ignore legal advice, or (3) that her Attorney General, Mickey Amery is not up to the job of confronting his premier in his independent role as AG.”
Lawyers representing Northback are dissecting Smith’s statements with very bloody scalpels:
“When it comes to coal mining, people do not want to see mountaintop removal,” she said. “People do not want to see strip mining.
“They’re concerned that when you do that, it exposes the rock face to when it rains and selenium gets into the water system -- so we’ve put a policy into place.
“You can’t do these things,” she said. “You can’t do open pit mining and you can’t do strip mining -- but if you can find techniques that allow you to do new underground mining, then we’re going to be open to approving those projects.”
“My understanding is that the AER just approved some test well drilling for Northback at Grassy Mountain to allow them to see if they have the ability to do that underground mining. You have to be at a certain depth to make it profitable and I’m just going to watch and see the outcome of that,” she said.
There’s no ambiguity in the premier’s declarations: Surface mining will not be allowed at Grassy Mountain, or anywhere else in the Rocky Mountains. Grassy Mountain’s tortured coal seams are inauspicious for underground tunnelling, and where could Northback dump the selenium-contaminated waste rock if not into the watersheds of Gold or Blairmore Creeks, both home to federally protected Westslope Cutthroat trout?
Unless Danielle Smith caves once again to environmentally malign foreign actors, there will be no coal mining at Grassy Mountain.
The next necessary step will be so informing the Alberta Energy Regulator with an official ministerial order confirming the premier’s epiphany.
In the meantime, we can celebrate the sovereignty of public opinion in Alberta.