Coal Policy and Surface Mining in the Rockies

Larry Whan holds up a Stop the Mines sign as a small, but dedicated group gathered together to kick off the first on many planned protests against coal mining in the Eastern Slopes on March 14, 2021, at the Monolith at Maycroft, AB. Whan often protests on the corner of Highway 3 and 22 Fridays and Sundays. Photo: Lorraine Hjalte.

In May 2020, under cover of the coronavirus pandemic emergency, in the absence of public consultation, and justified by the need to modernize “outdated” regulations, Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) rescinded a four-decade-old coal development policy, thereby eliminating the land-use categories and development restrictions the coal policy had enshrined.[1] Opposition simmered through the summer months and into the fall, boiling over as broad swaths of Alberta society – from urban-based politicians, academics, and outdoor enthusiasts, to rural reeves, ranchers, and country music singers – pushed back against the threat new surface mines in the foothills and mountains represented to watersheds, health, and diverse livelihoods. Public pressure was such that the UCP reversed course in February 2021, reinstating the 1976 Coal Policy. Future exploration has been prohibited pending new legislation that Minister of Energy Sonya Savage has promised will be shaped through public consultation.

“Rescinding the 1976 Coal Policy represents the removal of the last protection in place from a framework erected in the 1970s but one that was never properly supported or reinforced since.”

Rescinding the 1976 Coal Policy was a turning point in awareness about the threat posed by surface mine operations in Rocky Mountains and foothills. The desire to develop the coal resources of the Rockies dates to the beginnings of colonial settlement in western Canada. Coal mines within Banff National Park, at Bankhead and Anthracite, were not originally seen as incompatible with park protection. These mines only closed as tourism and the wilderness aesthetic took precedence over resource development, and as coal miners figured among the most radical trade union activists during a period of labour unrest.[2] Excluded from the parks, underground coal mining flourished in the foothills, most notably in the Crowsnest Pass, at Nordegg, and in the Coal Branch west of Edmonton. The mines fuelled the railways upon which western agricultural settlement depended. They were also not without risks, certainly to human health (the Crowsnest Pass mines were among the most dangerous in Canada), and to ecosystems, whether from acid mine drainage or air pollution.[3]

These risks paled in comparison, however, to the ecological damage wrought by surface mining. The turn to surface and strip mining for coal was a post-1945 global phenomenon, as new earth-moving technologies allowed for cheaper and more efficient production of coal than the skilled labour of men underground ever had. In Alberta, the volume of coal produced grew twenty-three times over from 1961 to its peak in 1995. This growth in production went primarily to thermal electricity generation. While Alberta exported its high-value natural gas and oil, it used its coal reserves to provide cheap electricity at home.[4]

Coal mine at Bankhead, AB, about 1923. Photograph, glass-lantern slide. McCord Museum MP-0000.25.578.

From the outset, surface mining in the mountains and foothills set off significant public opposition. The outcry about the effects of new surface operations in the Crowsnest Pass saw alliances forged between local residents, university researchers, and women’s groups. In the 1950s, the Crowsnest MLA was one William Kovach, an underground miner turned Social Credit politician. Kovach worked with the local Fish and Game Association to oppose strip mining.[5] Public concern influenced new environmental policy measures introduced by Social Credit under Harry Strom and continued and expanded by the Progressive Conservatives under Peter Lougheed. These included the creation of an Environment Conservation Authority (ECA) and a provincial Department of the Environment.[6] Among the ECA’s first initiatives were public hearings from December 1971 through January 1972 on “the impact on the environment of surface mining in Alberta.”[7]

When it came to surface coal mining, the PC government of the day balanced competing interests through embracing reclamation science, implementing land-use zones to limit development, and increasing protection for the Eastern Slopes. Reclamation in this period, realized through the 1973 Land Surface Conservation and Reclamation Act, held the promise of putting the land back – or even improving on it – once the sought-after resources had been extracted.[8] The new policy framework protected the foothills and mountains, while expanding surface mining on the plains. New land-use categories in the 1976 Coal Policy enshrined this trade-off: the strongest protections were afforded to Category 1 and 2 lands in the mountains and foothills. Category 3 lands were found in the plains and northern regions.[9] The 1977 “Policy for Resource Management of the Eastern Slopes,” further restricted development in the foothills.[10] 1970s-era environmentalists were not the first to recognize the profound importance of the Eastern Slopes. Drought in the 1930s had laid bare the devastating reality of water scarcity in the prairie west. The forests of the Eastern Slopes were deemed of national importance because they protect the flow of water in the Saskatchewan River and its tributaries. From 1947 to 1973, the federal government and Alberta together protected these lands through the work of the Eastern Rockies Forest Conservation Board.[11] The 1970s management policies represented Alberta taking sole responsibility for the Eastern Slopes.

Lougheed and his ministers provided meaningful opportunities for broad-based public consultation. They drew on scientific research to devise policy and funded more such research, making Alberta a world-leader in reclamation science in the 1970s and 1980s.[12] But, as has been shown in the history of the oil sands, economic development objectives compromised the province’s ability to protect the environment.[13] The promise of reclamation was not realized as expectations of what could be achieved were scaled back and as operators worked around requirements. When the mine at Tent Mountain closed in the 1980s the site was successfully reclaimed according to provincial regulation. As is apparent from the 2019 photograph of Tent Mountain shown on the next page, the land can hardly be described as “put back.” And it did not take long for protections introduced by Lougheed’s government to be undone. The Eastern Slopes management policy lasted less than a decade, undergoing a major revision in 1984 that better facilitated resource development, not protection. The revised policy was “rejected” by the Alberta Wilderness Association but pushed through by Don Getty’s PC government.[14]

“In the context of climate change, the hazards arising from coal development in the mountains and foothills are greater than ever.”

Rescinding the 1976 Coal Policy represents the removal of the last protection in place from a framework erected in the 1970s but one that was never properly supported or reinforced since. The decision to revise this policy has to be seen in the context of the move away from thermal coal in Alberta that led to the closure of large operations on the plains, at Highvale and elsewhere. This is part of a global energy transition in response to the stark and immediate realities of climate change. The coal industry is in retreat as power generation turns to renewable energy, or even nuclear power, in a quickly heating world. High grade coal, such as that which makes up the Rocky Mountains and foothills, goes primarily to steel-making and the search for manufacturing alternatives is on.

There is reason to view the 1976 Coal Policy as outdated and in need of revision. In the context of climate change, the hazards arising from coal development in the mountains and foothills are greater than ever. Demand for metallurgical coal will continue to drive interest in mining the Eastern Slopes. Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic has strengthened the desire among Albertans to spend time in these beautiful places. The risks of water scarcity in western Canada are real as glaciers recede rapidly, extreme floods threaten lives and infrastructure, and droughts kill crops. Robust protection of the shoulders of our mountain ranges is more important than ever.

AUTHOR

A specialist in the histories of northern and western Canada, Liza Piper teaches environmental history and the history of disease at the University of Alberta, and is the author of The Industrial Transformation of Subarctic Canada (UBC Press).

References

[1] Government of Alberta, “Updated coal rules keep protection, strengthen certainty,” press release, May 15, 2020, https://www.alberta.ca/release. cfm?xID=71360F8EBFAD6-F329-868E-8D338CE2C2A0A01F.

[2] Allen Seager, “Socialists and Workers: The Western Canadian Coal Miners, 1900-21,” Labour / Le Travail 16 (Fall 1985): 23-59.

[3] Karen Buckley, Danger, Death, and Disaster in the Crowsnest Pass Mines 1902-1928 (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2004).

[4] Liza Piper and Heather Green, “A Province Powered by Coal: The Renaissance of Coal Mining in Late Twentieth-Century Alberta,” Canadian Historical Review 98, no. 3 (2017): 532-567.

[5] J.D.B. Brown to J. Crawford, May 8, 1952, file 2434, GR 77.237, Provincial Archives of Alberta.

[6] Mark Winfield, “The Ultimate Horizontal Issue: The Environmental Policy Experiences of Alberta and Ontario, 1971- 1993,” Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique 27, no.1 (1994), 131.

[7] Environment Conservation Authority, The Impact on the Environment of Surface Mining in Alberta 4 vols. (Edmonton: Environment Conservation Authority, 1972).

[8] Chris Powter et al., “Regulatory History of Alberta’s Industrial Land Conservation and Reclamation Program,” Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 92 (2012): 39-51; on the idea of improvement, ECA, The Impact on the Environment of Surface Mining in Alberta: Report and Recommendations, 75.

[9] Alberta Energy and Natural Resources, “A Coal Development Policy for Alberta,” (Edmonton, 1976), Table 1 – p.18.

[10] Alberta Energy and Natural Resources, “A Policy for Resource Management of the Eastern Slopes,” (Edmonton, 1977).

[11] Wallace R. Hanson, History of the Eastern Rockies Forest Conservation Board 1947-1973 (Calgary, 1973).

[12] Robert Bott, Graham Chandler, and Peter McKenzie-Brown, Footprints: The Evolution of Land Conservation and Reclamation in Alberta (Cochrane: Kingsley Publishing, 2016).

[13] Hereward Longley, “Conflicting Interests: Development Politics and the Environmental Regulation of the Alberta Oil Sands Industry, 1970-1980,” Environment and History 27, no. 1 (2021): 97-125.

[14] Alberta Energy and Natural Resources, “A Policy for Resource Management of the Eastern Slopes,” rev. ed. (Edmonton, 1984); Alberta Wilderness Association, “History,” accessed Apr. 12, 2021, https://albertawilderness.ca/about-us/history/.