Coal company lobbying Alberta government for lenient definition of open pit mine

A stock photo of a coal mine in the mountains in Alberta. (Getty Images)

As the provincial government finalizes details of new rules for coal mining in Alberta’s mountains and foothills, one company is asking officials to pick a definition of open pit mining that won’t interfere with its mining practices.

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In December, Alberta’s United Conservative Party government announced it will permit coal mining and exploration in previously off-limits areas along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, but said the policy framework developed through its Coal Industry Modernization Initiative (CIMI) would ban new open pit mines and mountaintop removal coal mining.

Westmoreland Mining LLC, which owns and operates the 20,660-hectare Coal Valley Mine in the foothills near Edson is lobbying Alberta Energy and Minerals and the province’s energy regulator on “CIMI and possible definitions of open pit mining,” according to lobbying records filed on Feb. 10.

“The intention is to maintain the definition to fit [the company’s] current Coal Valley activities as well as new development of resources in the same area to ensure those activities can continue under the new rules,” Westmoreland said in the filing.

Westmoreland did not respond to multiple requests for comment by the time of publication.

Though the terms “open pit” and “mountaintop removal” may evoke clear images of sprawling quarries and flattened peaks, the legal definitions are more ambiguous, making implementation and enforcement of the proposed ban “problematic,” said Brenda Heelan Powell, staff counsel at the Environmental Law Centre.

“If you say there’s no mountaintop removal or there’s no open pit mines, but don’t have a clear, coherent definition of what you mean by those things and don’t set out really clear boundaries on what those things are, then it’s very difficult to know whether or not your prohibition is being ignored or not,” Powell said.

The Coal Conservation Act governs development of coal resources in Alberta and guides everything from project approval and mineral transport to pollution control and environmental conservation.

Powell noted the distinction in the act between an “open pit” mine, which would be prohibited under CIMI, and a “strip mine”, which would be permitted, comes down to terrain rather than mining practice or project size.

“I think there may be sort of general conceptions of what these things mean, and it might not be where the legal definitions ultimately land,” she said.

The act defines an open pit mine as a mine “worked by removal of overlying strata and subsequent excavation of exposed coal in terrain that is not flat or substantially flat,” and a strip mine as one “worked by removal of overlying strata and subsequent excavation of exposed coal in flat or substantially flat terrain.”

The act gives no definition of mountaintop removal mining.

“There might be this idea that if you ban open pit mining, that means there’s not going to be the same level of surface disturbance, because that’ll move everything underground. But I don’t think that’s technically correct with the definitions we have today,” Powell said.

The final decision on whether or not a regulation applies to a project is made by the Alberta Energy Regulator.

Powell also said she is concerned the government is only consulting with industry stakeholders in the final stages of developing its new coal rules rather than a broader public consultation.

Managing coal policy debate

Nigel Bankes, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Calgary, said he has followed the coal file closely over the last four years, but didn’t really become aware of these “definitional issues” until the CIMI announcements in December and January.

“Perhaps that itself is significant in terms of the government’s efforts to manage the debate,” Bankes said.

“I think that the new definitional debate also speaks to a significant divide that we see between the provincial government, which is trying to accommodate foreign coal interests and the coalition of interests opposed to coal. The latter group just wants a commitment to no new coal, in whatever form. For this coalition of interests the definitions are an irrelevant distraction from the main issue.”

A spokesperson for Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean’s office said in a statement Alberta’s government is “engaging with industry on the Coal Industry Modernization Initiative and these meetings are ongoing.

“Through our coal mining modernization, we are banning new open pit mines in the foothills and Rockies, and prohibiting mountaintop removal mining, all while prioritizing the protection of our waterways and environment.”

Proposed coal policy changes and updated legislation are expected to be finalized by the end of 2025.

Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Investigative Journalism Foundation