The C$20.6-billion project, about 110 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, “would disturb 292 square kilometres of pristine wetlands and boreal forest over its 40-year lifespan (although Teck won’t actively mine its whole lease at once),” CBC writes. “That’s an area half the size of the city of Edmonton.”

Approving the Frontier Mine “would effectively signal Canada’s abandonment of its international climate goals,” Berman says, noting that its emissions would land “on top of the increasing amount of carbon that Canada’s petroleum producers are already pumping out every year.” Moreover, “the Teck mega mine would be on Dene and Cree territory, close to Indigenous communities. The area is home to one of the last free-roaming herds of wood bison, it’s along the migration route for the only wild population of endangered whooping cranes, and is just 30 kilometres from the boundary of Wood Buffalo National Park—a UNESCO world heritage site because of its cultural importance and biodiversity.”