Latest news with #CrowsnestPass
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Decision to allow exploratory drilling near Crowsnest Pass prompts questions about selenium
Selenium has been the focus of a lot of public debate with the recent approval by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to allow exploratory drilling at the Grassy Mountain coal mine near the Crowsnest Pass. The biggest concern raised by opponents is the potential impact of selenium on the environment, wildlife and people and land downstream. CTV News spoke with a toxicologist and retired biologist about selenium, the ways of removing it and what it could actually mean for the environment. 'Selenium is a bio-cumulative substance,' said Mandy Olsgard, an environmental toxicologist and risk assessor. She says its a naturally occurring element found in rocks, soils and can be released into the environment through multiple ways including coal mining. Selenium has been found in water in Alberta and British Columbia. While low amounts may not pose harm, Olsgard says higher amounts can be toxic. 'There are ways to remove it, and I would say the technologies being used in Elk Valley are the best available technologies,' she told CTV news. Elk Valley Resources, formerly Tech Resources Ltd., currently uses saturated rock fill and active water treatment. 'Saturated rock fill can remove to about three micrograms per litre, active water treatment can to about 10 micrograms per litre. The issue is the Alberta Surface Water Quality guideline to protect fish and aquatic life is one to two micrograms per litre,' Olsgard explained. She says those treatments could protect water for humans and agriculture. 'But there's no technology that can remove enough selenium to protect a receiving aquatic environment,' she said. Olsgard says high levels of selenium can cause developmental affects to fish, such as curved spines and a reduced population. At the beginning of June, Alberta's ministry of environment and protected areas issued a fish consumption advisory for Crowsnest Lake. Each year, the province conducts netting of fish from selected lakes across Alberta to inform recreational fish management. In 2024, 105 brown trout, lake trout and mountain whitefish were analyzed for mercury and trace metals. A preliminary assessment of these results showed that consumption of those fish should be limited due to selenium levels, according to the ministry. 'We don't have to go into the Elk Valley in B.C. to see this, we have our own Elk Valley in the MacLeod River drainage in the old coal branch, where water quality has been impacted by a century or more of coal mining to the point where 92 per cent of the native trout population is missing because of selenium,' said retired biologist Lorne Fick. Fick spent 50 years reviewing environmental impacts on mines in the Eastern Slopes with four other biologists. He found that all of them had either acute landslide, significant erosion and water contamination. 'If you don't engineer your development in such a way to be cognitive of that, things will fail – and they did,' Fick said. 'If you don't have a predictive quality about what the weather events will be, and those were available, things will fail.' Alberta has higher selenium concentration in drinking water standard than B.C. Alberta is listed at 50 micrograms per litre, whereas B.C. has a standard two micrograms per litre. Olsgard says it will take decades to exceed those in places like Lethbridge and further downstream. 'It might not be exceeding thresholds, it might still be safe for crops and food production, but the perception around that and a contaminated water source… I don't know think anyone has really considered that,' she said. The Alberta government has done a number of studies showing the extremely concerning impact of selenium on rivers, fish and the environment. While the reports have been made public, the province will not allow us or any other media to speak with the researcher behind the studies.
Calgary Herald
31-05-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Pop-up entertainment district bylaw brings vibrancy, giant patio concept Downtown
New pop-up entertainment districts are bringing vibrancy to Edmonton's Downtown, thanks to a new bylaw and some out-of-the-box thinking by the Edmonton Downtown Business Association. Article content Article content Every Saturday between now and Thanksgiving weekend, for example, there will be at least one place and time where you can stroll with a beer and a dog in the city's core while browsing market bounty. Article content Article content It's the Edmonton Downtown Business Association's extension of the Downtown Farmers Market, courtesy of a special licence closing the road and turning that whole 'pedestrianized' multi-block section of 104 Street by Kelly's Pub into a giant patio Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in market season. Article content 'What we're really trying to achieve here is to continue to support our businesses and make Edmonton Downtown a vibrant place. It is really great to see that our businesses are able now to sell more of their products to all of the shoppers, not just the ones that want to enjoy their patio or inside the restaurant,' said Quinn Phillips, director of marketing and communications for the EDBA. Article content 'This gives the people the ability to grab a cocktail somewhere, and then come out onto the streets and drink it within the entertainment district,' Phillips said. Article content Article content 'I think that every business is really excited, because it does just drop into the area and increase vibrancy in the area. I think that everybody is very excited to see this happen and just continue to create different ways for people to enjoy Downtown.' Article content If a business wants to put on a street event, they can seek a road closure (with city approval), and then the entertainment district template can be implemented. Article content For example, the new bylaw means EDBA's Winterval festival can go from a beer garden with a sole vendor to a licensed massive patio where existing brick-and-mortar businesses can sell their drinks for people to enjoy as they meander the street in search of handmade beard balm (Crowsnest Pass fragrance, or perhaps eau de Old Strathcona), bear claws, crocheted crustaceans, or custom cat perches.
CTV News
21-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Advertising bylaws another nail in the coffin for local media, newspaper publishers say
Postmedia signage is pictured at the head office in Toronto, on Wednesday, June 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Lahodynskyj In the eight years since the former NDP government changed rules governing Alberta's municipalities, newspaper publishers say they've seen a once stable revenue stream evaporate and relationships with local governments become more politicized. The Municipal Government Act (MGA) requires municipalities to advertise certain proposed bylaws, resolutions, public hearings and other government business. The act previously specified public notices be placed in newspapers as paid advertisements or delivered directly to residents, but it was amended in 2017 to allow municipalities to write bylaws authorizing the use of alternatives like social media and online advertising. 'Once the MGA changed and councils could advertise online or through their own channels, many of us lost that income almost overnight. Now that money often goes to Facebook or Google instead of staying in the community,' said Lisa Sygutek, publisher of the Crowsnest Pass Herald and Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association president. Alberta has lost a total of 52 community newspapers since 2008, according to data from the Local News Research Project , including 30 that have closed since 2018. Many of these closures follow a broader collapse of advertising revenue for community newspapers in Canada, which fell 44 per cent between 2018 and 2022. The disappearance of public notices on its own might not be a death sentence for a newspaper, but it is another blow for an already struggling industry, said Tyler Nagel, a journalism instructor at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. 'The government as a source of revenue for newspapers by way of advertising goes way back. I think that the changes to the Municipal Government Act definitely exacerbate the situation,' Nagel said. 'Local newspapers are already hanging by a thread.' As early as 1908, the Edmonton city charter mandated that certain public notices be published for three successive weeks in a city newspaper, and this stipulation was written into the original MGA in 1968 . Researchers have called required public notice spending a type of ' silent subsidy ' that has helped sustain newspapers and legitimized them as official sources of civic information. When these civic notices stop appearing in the newspaper, readership declines as well, 'and that hurts subscriptions, ad sales, everything,' Sygutek said. 'It sends a message that local journalism isn't necessary anymore, and that's dangerous for small towns like ours.' The Albertan publisher Murray Elliott said his concern with the proliferation of new municipal ad bylaws since 2017 is that it allows local governments to 'bypass' his paper and other media for the sake of expediency. In December, Olds town council passed its own ad bylaw, the latest of several communities served by the Albertan to do so. Though the current administration has promised to maintain its spending with the paper, Elliott said he's aware of how quickly that could change. 'I'm worried that when they don't like us, then they have that option,' he said. 'They can lead with emotion, and they can pull the newspaper.' Sygutek said she experienced this kind of backlash in the early 2010s, when Crowsnest Pass town council 'pulled nearly all their advertising' in response to stories her paper published. The previous statutory notice requirements in the MGA prevented council from cutting its funding to the paper completely, but she said now that those minimal 'safeguards' have been removed, publishers feel like they're walking a fine line in their reporting. 'If you push too hard or publish something council doesn't like, you risk losing what little advertising support is left. That pressure challenges the very foundation of what local journalism is supposed to stand for,' Sygutek said. During his research on local news, Nagel said he's heard similar stories from other publishers of current newspapers, though they have elected to not make these disputes public. When councils have a choice about whether to continue funding local media or not, 'things have the potential to become politicized,' he said. The extent to which a municipal administration can take punitive action and defund local media also depends on the language of the advertising bylaw. While governments must fulfill certain legal obligations to notify the public, how this is achieved is left up to individual municipalities. Some bylaws, like those introduced by Airdrie and St. Paul , maintain requirements to place notices in the local paper but add other options like digital ads. Far more municipalities however, including Edmonton , Innisfail , Cold Lake and Cochrane , have opted to remove print media as a required method for public notices altogether. Edmonton's shift to online advertising has also marked the end of its long-standing arrangement with the Edmonton Journal and Postmedia. For over 20 years, the city maintained a sole-source advertising contract with the network valued at about $1 million per year, and legally required ads from the city accounted for over two-thirds of Edmonton's ad spending with the Journal. A spokesperson for the city confirmed the contract hadn't been renewed after expiring at the end of 2024. April Lindgren, founder of the Local News Research Project and professor emerita at Toronto Metropolitan University School of Journalism, said that while she believes it's important for municipalities to support local media, prioritizing funding for print publications doesn't necessarily mean protecting quality news. She argued that in cases where papers are owned by big media chains that have for years 'slashed and burned the newsrooms to the point where there's hardly any news in those publications,' directing scarce municipal dollars to proprietors who aren't committed to serving the public good isn't a smart investment. 'The fact of the matter is, in many communities, newspapers are pale shadows of what they used to be, and they're not necessarily the main source of news anymore. There are some strong digital online news sources, and I would want to make sure that any municipal advertising policy would recognize that in terms of where it put its ads,' Lindgren said. She believes a best practice for a municipality would be to recognize that viable local media in a variety of forms is essential infrastructure, just like safe streets, quality drinking water or timely ambulance service. 'People need to be informed,' she said. 'I don't think newspapers have any sort of magic claim on the public's attention anymore when it comes to getting news.' The changes to the MGA made by the former New Democrat government acknowledge the increased reliance on digital and social media for news updates, and the legislation is intended to allow municipalities the opportunity to establish bylaws to reflect that, Ministry of Municipal Affairs press secretary Kevin Lee said in an email. 'It is our expectation that municipalities establish these bylaws with the needs of their community top of mind so they can ensure that their residents are aware of the public notices that they publish.' ----------------------- By Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Investigative Journalism Foundation
Globe and Mail
16-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Alberta regulator approves coal applications at Grassy Mountain
The Alberta Energy Regulator has approved three applications for coal exploration, drilling and water diversion at a site called Grassy Mountain in the south of the province. Thursday's decision is the latest development in a long-running battle over reviving the defunct metallurgical coal mining industry in the Crowsnest Pass. The issue has pitted neighbours and communities against each other, with those who support coal development in the region standing against those who are firmly opposed. The lead proponent is Northback Holdings Corp., which owns a huge swath of land that was, until the 1960s, teeming with coal mines above and under the ground. It is one of the many companies owned by Hancock Prospecting Pty. Ltd, which is run by Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart – the country's richest person. None of the approved applications are for a mine proper, but for the kind of exploratory activity that comes before developing a detailed plan to get to the veins of metal-making coal that run deep and plentiful around the Crowsnest Pass. In an e-mail Thursday evening, Northback thanked the Alberta Energy Regulator for the decision. 'With this outcome, Northback continues our commitment to bring benefits to Albertans while adhering to the highest environmental standards,' the company said. Northback used to be called Benga Mining Ltd. Under that name, in 2017, the federal and provincial governments accepted its application for an environmental impact assessment of a new surface metallurgical coal mine encompassing about 2,800 hectares of land. It would have produced 4.5 million tonnes of coal annually over a mine life of about 25 years. A joint federal-provincial panel rejected Benga's plan in 2021, citing significant environmental concerns – which Northback hopes it can address using information gleaned from a drilling program. The panel's decision was released at a time of intense public backlash over coal mining in Alberta, which forced the government to halt exploration for the fossil fuel on a swath of sensitive land and cancel a series of leases earmarked for potential new mines. The regulator took the unusual step of sending Northback's latest applications to a full hearing. Those speaking against the proposals at the hearing included environmentalists concerned about local grizzly and trout populations, ranchers worried about how water use at a future mine and during early-stage drilling would affect an already-parched watershed, and residents of Crowsnest Pass and Piikani First Nation troubled by the potential of air and water contamination from coal dust and selenium. On the other side were business owners who had already contracted with Northback on early activities, security and gravel companies based on the nearby Piikani First Nation, and Crowsnest Pass residents who said the mine would bring much-needed jobs and economic development to a region with a shrinking tax base. On Nov. 25, more than half of the residents of the Crowsnest Pass municipality turned out to vote in a non-binding referendum on whether they supported a project to mine steelmaking coal on Grassy Mountain. Close to 72 per cent of them voted 'yes.' The result held no legal weight, but Councillor Dean Ward, who proposed the vote, said at the time it would give the council social licence to lobby the provincial and federal governments for the mine. Critics of the project – including the municipal district of Ranchland, where the mine would be located – say the company has no legal right to even pursue the plan. Alberta banned new coal exploration in 2022 amid a public backlash against mines. The province has since reversed that directive, but not before five coal companies launched a case suing the province for almost $14-billion over the government's flip-flop on mining policies.
