Photo by Phil Whitehouse (CC BY 2.0)

The Government of Alberta (GoA) is hell-bent on facilitating the development of new coal mines in the Province. To that end, it purported to rescind the long-standing Coal Development Policy (CDP) of 1976 effective June 1, 2020. The CDP prevented development of coal resources in Category I lands on the eastern slopes of the Rockies and only permitted the development of new underground mines (rather than open-pit mines) in Category II lands (see Figure 1, below, also available here).

An application for judicial review of the decision to rescind the CDP is pending: Blades et al v Alberta.

Meanwhile, several new coal mining projects are at various stages of review. These projects include Riversdale/Benga’s Grassy Mountain Project currently under review by a joint review panel of the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), Montem’s Tent Mountain Mine, Atrum’s Elan and Isolation Mines, and the Cabin Ridge Coal Project Ltd. (for further details see Oldman Watershed Council, Coal Mining in the Oldman Watershed, July 30, 2020).

These mines will all require approvals under the Coal Conservation Act, RSA 2000, c C-17 and other regulatory statutes, but they will also require something else – water. And water in the South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB) – and especially within the Oldman River Basin – is in short supply. Indeed, the SSRB (with the exception of the Red Deer Basin) has long been considered to be over-allocated in terms of licensed appropriations and accordingly it (outside the Red Deer Basin) has been closed to new licence applications since 2007 (with some exceptions discussed below). In closing the basin, the GoA was giving effect to the terms of the approved Water Management Plan for the South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB WMP).

Source: Water for Coal Developments: Where Will It Come From? |

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