MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – The provincial government’s plans to allow coal mining in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in any shape or form after previously back peddling and pledging not to due to public backlash just a few years ago is a double betrayal, says a Sundre-area resident.
“I think they have betrayed Albertans,” said Robert Bueck, who lives in the McDougal Flats area.
“They betrayed them the first time when they rescinded the coal mining policy in May of 2020, and I think the second time now after they had said that they were not going to go ahead and do it.”
On March 4, the Alberta Energy Regulator wrapped up closing arguments in a hearing held for Northback Holdings Corporation’s applications for a coal exploration program, deep drill permit and a temporary diversion licence for a Grassy Mountain steel-making coal deposit located north of Blairmore.
Protests against allowing coal mining were held outside the Alberta Energy Regulator’s Calgary office during the hearings.
Bueck was among many Albertans of diverse backgrounds who back in 2020 organized and mobilized against the provincial government’s decision to rescind the 1976 Coal Mining Policy that was originally passed by the Peter Lougheed government of the day to protect the foothills.
“That was critical because the vast majority of our drinking water originates in the foothills and in the mountains,” Bueck told the Albertan on Feb. 6 during an interview.
The foothills are the source of major streams from the Red Deer and Oldman to the Bow and North Saskatchewan rivers, which all go onto supply many municipalities from small towns such as Sundre to large centres like Calgary and Edmonton, he said.
Despite the government’s attempt to quietly announce plans to rescind the coal policy on the Friday of a long weekend in May 2020, the public response came as swiftly and furiously as class 5 rapids.
“The public backlash was huge,” said Bueck. “They actually had to reinstate that policy in 2021.”
By that point, Bueck said he despite feeling a level of relief nevertheless remained “really wary.”
However, Bueck said he was encouraged by comments made in 2023 during a provincial election forum in Olds where UCP MLA Nathan Cooper acknowledged the coal policy could have been handled better but added the government had listened to concerns and ultimately made the right decision not to allow coal mining.
Broken promise
But fast forwarding to today, and the government has instead reopened the coal mining can of worms.
“They have now introduced the Alberta Coal Industry Modernization Initiative,” he said. “They’ve opened up the entire eastern slopes to coal mining … they are trying to make it sound nice.”
The government claims no mountain tops will be removed and no new open pit coal mining will be allowed in the eastern slopes with further promises that best water practices will have to be used to prevent any selenium from leaching into waterways. New proposals will according to the government be restricted to underground mines or use mining technologies such as high-wall automated underground mining.
But Bueck is skeptical.
“The problem with the high-wall underground mining” is that it is “a hybrid mining method used when surface mining reaches its economic or technical limits,” he said.
“Ultimately, they first do strip mining or open pit mining. Once they cannot do that anymore – it isn’t feasible and they can’t reach the coal – then they actually start grinding into the bottom of mountains and start extracting the coal that way,” he said. “So, we will have open pit mines.”
That creates the possibility of selenium entering waterways. In a perfect world, that risk is relatively low, he said. But in the event something did go wrong, “then we do have a problem which is extremely hard to fix.”
While selenium in low concentrations is actually an important element for human health, the mineral in higher doses begins to present dangers ranging from more mild effects such as hair loss and brittle fingernails to more serious complications impacting our nervous systems, he said.
Scarcity bigger concern
Although the potential for pollution is certainly a serious factor, perhaps the bigger concern is water scarcity in a semi-arid province that has a limited supply and a large agricultural sector.
Every ton of coal requires anywhere from 300 to 600 litres of water to extract and process. The water is used to cool off drilling equipment, wash down vehicles, suppress dust and of course remove unwanted waste products including sulphur that creates a slurry that must be contained, he said.
“If those tailings ponds leak, that can then go into the groundwater.”
Such instances are not without precedent, as multiple communities in B.C. – such as Sparwood, Fernie and Elk Valley – have experienced to their detriment, he said.
“This is so unacceptable, and I don’t know why the government is risking our health in Alberta when the vast majority of our drinking water comes from there,” he said. “I just don’t get it.”
As well, substantial swaths of Alberta’s backyard could be closed off to “fishermen, hunters, trappers, backpackers, hikers, horseback riders – all those people that like recreating out in the West Country,” he said.
“It’s going to impact all of us because they’re going to block off access,” he said. “It is bad for the tourism industry.”
Additionally, the UCP did not hesitate to shut down wind and solar energy projects under the pretense of protecting pristine vistas and prime land, he said.
“But now they’re going ahead and doing this. I don’t understand the double standards here.”
Limited economic benefit not worth risk
And whatever economic benefit mining might offer is not worth the risk to the environment and Albertans’ health, he said.
“What really blows my mind the most here though, is that … the Alberta government … has a Water for Life strategy for watershed management,” he said, pointing out that per the strategy’s overview on the provincial government’s own website, “water is not only a resource, it is a life source. We all share the responsibility to ensure a healthy, secure and sustainable water supply for our communities, environment and economy.”
But an operation that annually mines two million tons of coal stands to consume anywhere between 600 million to 1.2 billion litres of water. And in southern Alberta, scarcity is already a major concern with the Oldman reservoir near Pincher Creek all but drying up.
“A lot of the ranchers down there are strongly opposed to this,” he said.
Recognizing that water is also used by the oil and gas industry, Bueck said the province and Albertans actually benefit economically from that activity.
“We use oil every day. Oil is the reason why we are so well off in this province. So despite the fact that I don’t always like what they do, I can still overall see the rationale.”
That being said, he asserts that the potential revenue from mining royalties absolutely pales in comparison and simply does not justify the risk.
According to the provincial government’s website, Alberta collected $7.3 million in royalties from coal in 2021, a figure that varies annually ranging from $7 to $23 million.
“That’s a joke. That is a total joke,” said Bueck. “If they talk about economics, most of that money is going to these rich mining corporations, which most of them, by the way, are Australian.”
The average Albertan, on the other hand, will come in last; or worse, left on the hook with the clean-up cost.
“If our water gets contaminated … if we have no more water to drink in Alberta, our properties are going to be worth nothing, nobody is going to want to move here. Can you imagine the costs of bringing in the water to all the communities to drink? It’s insane,” he said.
“In the end, it’s going to cost us hugely.”
Coal mining would be a “huge mistake” with serious consequences for Alberta, he said.
“Personally, I think it is a crime to allow this to happen.”
Politicians should be held accountable
As to Premier Danielle Smith’s claims that the government is merely acting to protect taxpayers from potential multi-billion-dollar lawsuits, Bueck is more concerned about being billed for cleaning up any disasters.
“Can you imagine what this is going to cost if we have contamination in our water? It’s crazy,” he said.
“If we get $16 billion lawsuits, (the UCP) are to blame. They are to blame. Not Albertans,” he added.
“In the end, I know that Alberta is going to pay for it, but ultimately they should pay for it. But politicians are never held accountable,” he said.
“When politicians screw up like that and something does go wrong … these guys waltz off into the sunset and you never see them again. I mean, (former premier) Jason Kenney also waltzed off into the sunset and was never heard of again. There is no accountability there whatsoever.”
Asked if he had anything to say to Smith and the provincial government, Bueck was blunt.
“Actually, no. I wouldn’t … I don’t want to speak to those people anymore. It is no point because as you can see, they say one thing and do whatever they want to anyhow.”
But he implores Albertans who care about their province to stand in solidarity and be heard.
“To my fellow Albertans, I would like to say one thing: the most positive thing that I ever got out of here fighting against the coal mining is that Albertans from all walks of life, and believe me, there are UCP voters in there, grassroots Albertans, there are NDP voters in there, there are First Nations in there, there are tree huggers in there. And you know what? We all came together for a common cause,” he said.
“If we want democracy to function, we mustn’t let ourselves be polarized and say, ‘Oh, that guy is conservative, or that guy is liberal, or that guy is whatever.’ We have to come together if there’s a topic that we do not like.”
- RELATED: Olds election candidates forum attracts 180 people
- RELATED: Concerns with plans for coal mining remain
- RELATED: Biologist warns ecological limits must be factored into watershed planning
- RELATED: Alberta launches largest water sharing effort since 2001 to deal with drought
- RELATED: Smith says taxpayers must be protected from lawsuits as Alberta lifts coal moratorium
