Anna Hansen says coal mining projects are not in the best interest of Albertans. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

By Eli J. Ridder

ENVIRONMENT

Protesters rally against Grassy Mountain coal mine project at premier’s office

Dec 23, 2024 | 6:03 PM

Sophie Filion says she organized a protest in front of Premier Danielle Smith’s constituency office Monday to speak out against a contentious coal mine project in eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

“”I’ve heard that a lot of people here are upset and so I figured maybe we can just get a group of people together,” Filion told CHAT News in front of Smith’s closed office.

She hoped to “raise some awareness for what’s going on and to show that we can show up if we disagree with what the government’s doing.”

The Alberta government last week revealed plans to ban new mountaintop removal and open-pit coal developments on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

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However, the new rules wouldn’t apply to advanced projects like the Grassy Mountain mine proposed for the Crowsnest Pass.

Paul von Huene, a protestor, said it’s an error to open the coal project in the face of reviews that found it damaging.

“I’m here because I think the Alberta government has made a serious mistake reopening this Grassy Mountain Coal project after being shut down by both the provincial and federal environmental reviews,” von Huene said.

A 2021 joint federal-provincial review of the project found it wasn’t in the public interest as it was likely to cause “significant” adverse environmental impacts that were not outweighed by its economic impact.

The federal environment minister at the time, Jonathan Wilkinson, said there would be negative effects on the surface water quality from selenium effluent discharge, the at-risk Weslope Cutthroat Trout and Whitebark Pine.

Wilkinson, basing his conclusions on the review, added there would also be adverse environmental effects on the physical and cultural heritage of the Kainai, Piikani and Siksika First Nations.

A referendum held in the municipality of the Crowsnest Pass in November found 72 per cent of residents were in favour of a steelmaking coal project proposed by Australian based Northback Holdings.

Piikani Nation members rallied in Brocket earlier this month to protest the project, raising concerns about the potential impact on the Old Man River.

Anna Hansen, holding a homemade sign, said people in Alberta don’t want a foreign company with a poor environmental record mining coal.

“No Albertan wants this, Albertans don’t want this,” Hansen said.

Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

Filion says she wants to see the provincial government pay attention to what people are saying.

“People are waking up and paying attention so I don’t think we’re going to just let this happen easily,” Filion said.

“There was a lot of dissent in 2021 and I think that energy is still here and nothing has changed. If anything, people are more mobilized now to shut this down.”