A controversial open-pit coal mine project in the Canadian Rockies will not proceed because of its “significant adverse environmental effects,” the government has decided.
On June 17, 2021, a review panel established by the Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Alberta Energy Regulator issued a report denying a provincial application for the project, ruling it was “not in the public interest.”
On Friday, federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said he had rejected the project after a review of the report and after a review of additional available information, reports CBC Canada.
“The Government of Canada must make decisions based on the best available scientific evidence while balancing economic and environmental considerations,” Wilkinson said in a release.
Benga Mining Limited has said the proposed metallurgical coal mine in the Crowsnest Pass area would create hundreds of jobs and produce up to 4.5 million tons of coal per year over a mine life of approximately 23 years.
Privately held Benga Mining is a unit of Riversdale Resources, owned by Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. According to Reuters, Riversdale has said the C$800 million ($648 million) Grassy Mountain project would generate C$1.7 billion in taxes and royalties over its lifetime.
Benga, Riversdale, the Stoney Nakoda First Nation, and the Piikani First Nation all filed appeals to the June 17 decision, with all the appeals to be heard in September, reports CTV News Calgary.
In a related development, CTV learned last month that Riversdale Resources was granted licenses to divert water for drilling and dust suppression for exploratory boreholes for the project.
The Grassy Mountain Coal Project
Back in 2014, Benga Mining began the approval process for the joint federal-provincial environmental review to construct and operate the Grassy Mountain Coal Project.
The project was a proposed 2,800-hectare (6,929 acres) mountain top removal open-pit metallurgical coal mine is located near the Crowsnest Pass just north of Blairmore, Alberta, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies.
