Coal!
Although the dialogue concerning coal mining in Alberta’s eastern slopes of our beloved Rocky Mountains has cooled off somewhat while a provincial panel assesses the issue, we must not lose sight of what has become an existential issue for all of Alberta and many of our eastern prairie neighbours. It goes without saying that our social media, Alberta politicians, and many MP’s, have been inundated with posts, emails, phone calls and letters. Many municipalities and editorial writers have spoken out confirming there is no upside to continuing with coal exploration or mining, whether for metallurgical or thermal coal, in this iconic and environmentally sensitive area. It is also obvious that the “Consultation” may very well be a government stall tactic based on the very limited scope of the initial public survey and terms of reference, notwithstanding the attempt by the Environment Minister to subsequently suggest otherwise.
There is a plethora of facts expressed by many others confirming why open pit coal mines in our mountains and foothills are a terrible idea. Here is just a sample:
- Permanent destruction of vast swathes of our mountains and foothills’ landscapes, forests and wildlife habitat
- Contamination of our headwaters from seepage of toxic selenium, arsenic and other heavy metals into streams and groundwater
- In particular, efforts to eliminate selenium have been unsuccessful despite the tens of millions spent on this problem
- Diversion of massive volumes of water for coal mining depletes streams already suffering from declining water flows
- Allocation of water rights to coal mines imperils water quality and volumes available for downstream communities, ranches and agri-businesses
- Weak full economics – a paltry 1% royalty rate and a few hundred ‘well paying’ jobs – but no requirement for sufficient up front, or pay as you go, environmental remediation funding by the coal companies
- Likely elimination over the next few decades of metallurgical coal in favour of hydrogen or other technology in the manufacture of steel
- Government secrecy around the coal lease deals struck with offshore mining interests
- Denial of recreational access to thousands of acres of mountain and foothills country leased to coal mining entities
Let’s add another perspective: Coal is no longer a resource to be exploited. Wikipedia defines “resource” as “a source or supply from which benefit is produced and that has some utility” implying some net benefit and net utility. There is no net benefit or net utility in the mining of coal in the Rockies’ foothills; coal, being such a major factor in climate change, and with many nations and industries gradually phasing it out, is no longer a resource.
So let’s leave it where it is!
Bottom line (and this should be a no-brainer for our politicians): immediately pass legislation banning all current exploration and future coal mining in the Rocky Mountains and its Eastern Slopes and end the so-called consultation; it is redundant.
Yes! It really is an obvious decision, but perhaps not for our current Alberta Government. Reversing all their recent decisions to assist coal mining in Alberta may come at a cost. Aside from “losing face”, the current Alberta government could find itself caught between the pincers of what the public desires and what promises and deals they have made with several Australian coal behemoths and their Canadian acolyte, the Coal Association of Canada (CAC). Does the Government really want us to know the details of these negotiations? If the Aussies and CAC lose any prospects of exploiting our coal – and Albertans – they also lose any incentive to withhold details of these “arrangements”.
So how much political pressure will be exerted on this panel to “do the government thing” rather than “the right thing”? It is up to all of us (including municipalities and organizations) who want to ensure that there is no expansion of existing Rocky coal mining, no granting of new leases and adoption of legislation to forever ban such future coal mines to maintain pressure on the panel, and all our MLA’s and MP’s. Keep up the submissions, social media, phone calls, letters, emails, sign postings, etc. Our collective outcry seems to have had a very positive effect on the recent conclusion of the joint panel turning down the request to reopen the Grassy Mountain coal mining site.
Marty Prentice
Eric Lloyd
Rich Scheel
