Even as it considers allowing renewed coal mining in the Rocky Mountains, the Alberta government has quietly lifted restrictions put in place during the reign of former premier Jason Kenney in 2022 prohibiting it.
On January 15, the Alberta Energy and Minerals ministry directed the Alberta Energy Regulator to rescind three ministerial orders suspending approvals for new mines on the eastern slopes of the Rockies.
The change means that previously approved mines that were suspended in December, 2022 will be lifted and the expiry dates under those orders extended.
However, a Lougheed-era ban on coal mines in protected areas, first enacted in 1976, remains in place according to the letter from Energy and Mines Minister Brian Jean to the AER. In the letter, the government said it would retain the 1976 policy as “the touchstone” for future coal development in Alberta.
“Of course, coal exploration and development in Category 1 lands, which includes national and provincial parks and wildlife sanctuaries has never been allowed and this will continue to be the case,” Jean wrote.
Jean added that the new policy would “reduce regulatory confusion” around coal mining in general and specifically for four proposed projects affected by the old policy.
A total of five companies are presently suing the government for a combined $15 billion, claiming lost revenues and sunk costs they say they are owed as a result of the government’s ongoing dithering over its coal policy.
Those cases were expected to come to trial in the spring although it’s not immediately clear what the changes will mean
It also comes after Australia-based Northback Holdings last week completed submissions to an AER public hearing in Calgary seeking permission for an exploratory drilling program at the Grassy Mountain site in the Crowsnest Pass.
Jean had previously ruled Grassy Mountain was exempt from the existing ban because it had been continuously mined for almost 50 years when the 1976 policy was put in place.
The newer restrictions were implemented after the Kenney government caved in to public pressure for tying to overturn the 1976 restrictions on open pit mining in 2020.
The new policy means that potentially hundreds of project applications stalled under the old rules will be allowed to move forward while the government considered new ones.
Opposition to the new rules was swift. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society on Monday said in a statement that the changes are a drastic upending of the status quo.
"This is a profoundly short-sighted and irresponsible decision by the minister of energy and minerals that puts the health, future and prosperity of Alberta, and our communities, at grave risk," according to CPAWS executive director Katie Morrison.
"We will be fiercely opposing this new direction — and we know we won't be alone. Albertans have fought this fight before and won."