The Biggest Coal Risk to Date: New Coal Policy Direction in Opposition to Albertans' Values
Government of Alberta MUST develop a coal policy that protects Albertans and our Future
Over the past five years, Albertans have been loud and clear that they oppose ANY new coal exploration or mining in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains and Eastern Slopes. Tens of thousands came together for a collective, concerted push against the Government of Alberta's recission of the 1976 Coal Policy and the subsequent mine exploration, which was successful in forcing the province to implement a moratorium in 2022.
Unfortunately, all of that once more changed December 20, 2024 announcement of a new coal policy direction — the Alberta Coal Industry Modernization Initiative (CIMI) — and the January 20, 2025 announcement that the Minister of Energy and Minerals has rescinded the moratorium on coal mining in the Eastern Slopes and confirms the 1976 A Coal Policy for Alberta.
More than 50 organizations, municipalities, and businesses signed on to community-led A Coal Policy for Alberta – 2022 and Beyond based on publicly available feedback submitted to the Coal Policy Committee. It provides a clear path forward to the end of coal in Alberta.
Instead, hundreds of thousands of hectares of NEW coal exploration and development could commence THIS spring. It also means that an application for the Grassy Mountain Mine could be approved at any time — it no longers "matters" whether it's an advanced project or not.
The Coal Industry Modernization Initiative (CIMI) may be the greatest risk to Alberta’s Rocky Mountains and Eastern Slopes to date. This new direction on an Alberta coal policy:
- Reopens 188,000 hectares of coal leases on the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies to new coal exploration and damaging surface and underground mining, including Cabin Ridge in Southern Alberta and the Blackstone Mines in the Bighorn Backcountry.
- Puts our water and communities at risk by relying on industry promises of technologies that have never been proven to work on the scale of an operating mine.
- Disregards the results of the 2021 Coal Policy public engagement, which showed 70% of Albertans oppose any new coal exploration or mine development anywhere in the province.
- Ignores the recommendations of the independent Coal Policy Committee that any new direction on coal should be preceded by land-use planning.
Why are the Eastern Slopes so important?
The impacts of coal mining are far-reaching and long-term. They include:
- Putting our headwaters, watersheds, and drinking water at risk by leaching contaminants such as selenium and other pollutants into streams and rivers. No operating technology has successfully prevented these releases at levels safe for aquatic ecosystems.
- Exploration and development of coal mines destroys habitat for sensitive wildlife including mountain goats, caribou, grizzly bears, and native trout, and sensitive alpine vegetation.
- Using large quantities of water reducing the amount available for fish, communities, and agriculture.
- Producing dust containing harmful compounds such as arsenic, which causes respiratory and cardiovascular impacts and contaminates the soil that supports agriculture, livestock, and ecosystem function.
- Hiking, camping, fishing and other recreation/tourism is inhibited near heavy industrial activity such as open pit and other mining activity, impeding development of sustainable economies.
The below letter is an URGENT ask to your MLA, the Minister of Energy and Minerals, and the Premier to push for greater protection in the Rocky Mountains and Eastern Slopes and create a policy to keep the region safe from all new coal mining.
