‘Important that folks make their voices heard’: CPAWS to continue fight against coal exploration

CPAWS Southern Alberta Executive Director, Katie Morrison, discusses the provincial government's decision to lift the ban on coal mining.

CPAWS Southern Alberta Executive Director Katie Morrison speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about the provincial government’s decision to lift a moratorium on coal exploration.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: Since the decision came to light, you’ve labeled this profoundly short-sighted and irresponsible. Put that assessment into context for us.

Katie Morrison: You’ll remember about five years ago, in 2020, the government lifted the coal policy that was written in 1976 that, kind of protected, or at least laid out ground rules, of where coal mining was and was not allowed along the eastern slopes.

There was massive public pushback from folks across the province of all backgrounds. We heard Corb Lund talking about agriculture, but you know, ranchers, farmers, fishermen, hunters, recreation users, water drinkers, really pushing back and saying, ‘This is not a good idea because of the massive damage that coal mines have on the landscape and the really, really high risk of water pollution and water use.

And so because of that pushback, the government did a consultation and then put this moratorium in that has been in for two years on any new coal mining and development. Then, over the last few weeks, the government has lifted that. So they’ve reopened all of those areas for potential coal mining, including all of those leases that that were put on hold.

MH: So what weight do you give the rationale of pending lawsuits against the province, filed by coal companies, with something like $15 billion in liabilities hanging in the balance? The premier says Alberta taxpayers need to be protected.

KM: I think it is fear of that lawsuit that is pushing them because there is nothing else that that could be. It doesn’t make economic sense, it doesn’t make environmental sense, and Albertans are strongly opposed to it.

But the lawsuit itself, I think, is a scare tactic. We have in place within our legislation the ability for governments to change policy in the interest of the public good, in the interest of Alberta, without compensating for any potential future losses.

There could be some compensation. Much, much less than the coal companies are purporting. I think that cost is a lot lower than what we could be paying in lost economies, in that farming and ranching, but also the long-term liability that Alberta will likely be stuck with for the cleanup of these coal mines in the future.

MH: What do you see coming now of the contentious Grassy Mountain project, the one at the centre of a lot of this?

KM: The lifting of this moratorium also made the legality, the fuzzy legality around the Grassy Mountain project, go away. So when they put this pause on any new coal mining or development, Grassy Mountain fell in this little bit of a gray area and it is applying for new permits for new exploration, and it was really highly contentious of whether they could be doing that under this moratorium.

Now that’s gone, so I expect that that Grassy Mountain exploration permit will continue through that regulatory process. We could also see some of these other companies that were up in the Upper Old Man and around the Crowsnest, even up in central Alberta around the Clearwater and RAM rivers that they could be going back in for exploration as well. So it sort of opens that door to allow them to continue and pick up where they left off.

MH: And if that is the case, where do you feel this maybe then leaves development of coal policy in our province, given the government says it’s working towards a Coal Industry Modernization Initiative?

KM: Minister Jean announced in December that they were creating a new coal policy, but it was really explicit within that policy that it was going to allow coal development along the eastern slopes, along the that entire rocky region.

And while he is saying that it will disallow open pit mining, he has also said in other public statements that it will allow high wall mining, surface mining and contour mining. All of those are just, sort of, different names for stripping off the vegetation, soil, and rocks, to get to those coal deposits underneath. They’re all really harmful to land, water, and certainly don’t protect those lands and waters as the minister seems to think.

MH: This is an extremely polarizing issue, with opponents protesting on one hand, proponents hailing economic benefits on the other hand. What’s it like navigating dialogue between those two factions?

KM: It is highly polarizing but certainly we see those pockets. So when the government did the consultation back in 2021, the government’s consultation clearly showed that about 70 per cent of Albertans did not want new coal mines, any new coal mines, anywhere within the Rocky Mountains.

We do see these pockets, such as Crowsnest Pass in the recent referendum, and we do have to recognize that these communities are looking for economic benefits. But we can’t have the local economic benefits at a huge cost to all downstream users, and the huge long-term economic liability that the government would be taking on.

MH: How do you continue fighting this? If it is that the government is determined to move forward, clear a path for coal mine development, what hope is there of reversing the decision, as has happened in the past?

KM: I think what happened in the past was that Albertans really took this on and really spoke up and out for our lands and waters. I think that could be the only thing that that’s going to work again.

This premier and this minister were not in their roles the last time this happened, so they haven’t personally seen the thousands of emails that are now coming into them, or talked to those downstream users, those farmers, ranchers, to really understand the impact.

So I think that we really do need to fight this again and I think that seems maybe exhausting, or it’s hard for people to think of doing that again, but these are elected representatives, they are and should be listening to Albertans, and I think that it’s really important that folks make their voices heard.