Grassy Mountain coal mine hearings met by protests in Calgary

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) offices in downtown Calgary as the second round of public hearings regarding the contentious Grassy Mountain coal mine kicked off Tuesday morning. 

The energy regulator is holding the hearings to review exploration permits submitted by Northback Holdings, the company behind the proposed coking coal mine in the M.D. of Ranchland, just north of Crowsnest Pass.

The first round of hearings was held in Pincher Creek in early December. 

Contamination of the Old Man River watershed, water shortages, potential impacts to southern Alberta agricultural producers, and damage to the environment surrounding the mine were among the concerns expressed by demonstrators. 

"I don't think [the Alberta government] has listened to us. I don't think they've studied the reports … They have their overlord, it appears, dictating to them what they should be doing. They're not listening to Albertans, and particularly the ones along the drainage of the Old Man River," said Jackie Chalmers, the founder of the Chinook Watershed Society. 

The hearings are the last opportunity for public input before the energy regulator decides whether Australian-owned Northback Holdings Corp. can move forward with a temporary exploratory drilling program and acquire a licence to divert water to the project.

The project was previously rejected by the federal government in 2021, citing adverse effects "on surface water quality, including from selenium effluent discharge."

Crowsnest Pass residents recently voted in favour of the project in a non-binding referendum, citing the economic boost it could bring to the community. 

"We were able to help them understand that we can indeed meet all the regulatory requirements put in place to protect the safety of Albertans, residents, the water and the environment," Rina Blacklaws, spokesperson for Northback, said in an interview.

The company says the exploration program would use water from previously mined end-of-pit lakes and would not be connected to nearby bodies of water.

Kathleen Ganley, the MLA for Calgary-Mountain View who attended today's protest, said she's not sure the issue can be described as a simple trade-off between jobs and the environment. 

"I don't think the economics on this project are that good, because what we're talking about is potential impacts to our water and land for generations. And we're also talking about a relatively minor amount of profit or royalty to the people of Alberta compared to the potential cost." 

Third-generation rancher Lance Loree said those costs could come at the expense of his very livelihood. 

"I'm an organic farmer, I don't know. I don't think coal dust is gonna do much for the organic certification. You know, it'd be pretty easy to lose a market there," he said. 

Loree is also concerned there isn't enough fresh water to go around, once you factor in what the mine would need to operate. 

Irrigators in southern Alberta had to cut their allocations last year in response to the year-on-year drought that has plagued that part of the province particularly. 

Contamination of those water sources, especially by selenium, a pollutant that leaches from coal mines, is another worry.

"Our water will be poisoned by selenium because there is no scientific, verifiable way to remove selenium from the wash of the coal," said Chalmers. 

"This could destroy the ag producers." 

Selenium can produce deformities, nerve damage and reproductive failure in fish and birds, and remains in the environment long after its original source has stopped emitting. 

If Northback can open up its mine, it has vowed to minimize environmental disruptions and impacts, but top experts have said there is no effective treatment to remove something like selenium from mining wastewater. 

In an interview with CBC News in December, Alberta's Agriculture Minister R.J. Sigurdson reassured farmers that the government wouldn't move forward with any policies that would have a negative impact on the sector. 

"We have one of the best regulators in the world within the AER and anybody that would be looking at any kind of production surrounding coal would have to come forward with technologies and solutions that wouldn't impact water and make sure that they deal with … removing any selenium from the water," he said. 

"It would be a very high bar for anybody looking to revitalize that site."

Under what the government is calling the Alberta Coal Industry Modernization Initiative, set to be in place by late 2025, the province said it would allow coal mining to take place if it met certain standards. 

New coal mining proposals would be required to use techniques that use "best water practices and prevent adding selenium into waterways."

But the new rules would not apply to the Grassy Mountain project, because the Alberta Energy Ministry has classified it as an "advanced" coal project. 

The energy regulator's public hearing is expected to continue tomorrow.