Why does Alberta yearn for the coal mines?

National Observer

5 days ago

This is how corporate bullies get their way. Alberta's energy regulator last week approved coal exploration plans by Australian-based Northback Holdings on Grassy Mountain in the Crowsnest Pass region. The approval came after a consortium of powerful coal mining companies sued the Alberta government for more than $15 billion over losses they claim were incurred when the province imposed a mining moratorium in the area. Northback is not part of the joint lawsuit, but it too filed a claim against the Alberta government that will be heard separately.
The lawsuits, with their astronomical price tags, have not yet been heard. But in one key way they have already served their intended purpose; they cowed Alberta Premier Danielle Smith into lifting the moratorium for the good of taxpayers .
So here we are creeping toward yet another fossil fuel development in a province hellbent on exploiting its vast stores of legacy energy at a time when we should be looking for cleaner alternatives. Metallurgical coal, which burns hot and is used to produce steel, is one of the dirtiest energy sources on our planet. Iron and steel production alone is responsible for about 11 per cent of the world's carbon emissions.
If that's not bad enough, open-pit coal mining is also a major source of water pollution. Coal mines in Alberta and BC have a nasty history of polluting Canadian waterways with selenium, a chemical highly toxic to fish and harmful to humans in high doses.
It was the spectre of selenium fouling the area's pristine rivers that caused the feds in 2021 to kibosh initial plans to mine coal at the Grassy Mountain site. Nevertheless, the project reemerged once the moratorium was lifted and the energy regulator has now ruled the company's exploration drilling plans meet the public interest . The decision stresses the approval is for exploration only, which carries far less environmental risk and notes strict waste disposal demands will provide an extra precautionary measure.
But here's the thing: If the exploration results are favourable, a fullblown mine is the only logical next step. And judging by the premier's recent remarks, Smith has already made that mental leap. Days after the energy regulator's decision, she urged Albertans to start looking at coal mining in ' a different way .'
She said mining opponents ignore the fact that it's impossible to build the polysilicon solar panels or steel wind turbines without burning coal. Except neither statement is quite true. The Alberta Energy Regulator's approval of a coal mine exploration project has us creeping toward yet another fossil fuel development when we should be looking for less carbon polluting alternatives. @adriennetanner.bsky.social writes
Although most steel is still produced using metallurgical coal, new technology has made it possible to produce steel with electricity . Here in Canada, Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie is very close to turning out steel with the use of two new electric arc furnaces. Similarly, REC Silicon , a company in Moses Lake, Wash., has found a way to use electricity to purify the silicon needed for solar panels.
She sought to alleviate concerns about water pollution, which caused the enormous public outcry in the agriculture-dependent region and the resulting moratorium in 2022, by suggesting a return to underground coal mining at Grassy Mountain. 'When it comes to coal mining, people do not want to see mountaintop removal,' she said. 'People do not want to see strip mining.' If Northback Holdings can find a way to do that, the Alberta government will be open to it, she said.
Underground mining is likely less environmentally risky because it shields the exposed coal seams from rainwater that washes selenium into waterways, Stephen Legault, Environmental Defence's senior manager of Alberta energy transition, told me when I called him for a fact check. But we must remember that underground coal mines are hugely dangerous for people who work in them, he added. That's why they have largely been phased out in Canada.
Canada's last remaining underground coal mine , which reopened in 2022, was shuttered after a roof cave-in the following year. Nova Scotia's Donkin mine has been cleared to resume operation, but low coal prices make the economics challenging.
Legault pointed out the cruel irony of advancing a project to mine one of the world's dirtiest fossil fuels in the springtime when Albertans are hoping against hope to be spared another devastating fire season caused by global warming.
'It seems to me that there would be more profitable, more equitable and safer ways of developing our economy in Southern Alberta than going back in time to when we were mining for coal underground.'
Alberta is a province with huge expertise in the energy business, yet when it comes to economic development, it insists on looking backward. The International Energy Agency predicts the world will reach peak demand for oil and coal by the end of this decade. Surely now is the time to move on from mining coal and plan for the low carbon future we know is coming soon.