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The fate of a massive coal mine expansion on the doorsteps of Jasper National Park is now in the hands of Alberta’s energy regulator.
The company submitted a formal application in April. It comes three months after the province officially lifted its moratorium on new coal mine development on the eastern slopes, though the proposed expansion was not subject to the moratorium.
While most of the political attention in the province has been focused on opening mines along the southern stretch of the mountain range, the existing Vista coal mine has been working to significantly extend its production of thermal coal, burned to generate electricity.
“Simply put, the Vista expansion would carve up the Rocky Mountains, threaten endangered species, Indigenous Rights, water quality and community health,” Fraser Thomson, a staff lawyer with Ecojustice who represents Keepers of the Water and the West Athabasca Watershed Bioregional Society in opposition of the project, said in an interview.
The expansion has faced delays as the federal Impact Assessment Agency mulled a review of the project before ultimately deciding not to proceed with an assessment, which would have considered adverse impacts on areas under federal jurisdiction including migratory birds, waterways and fish. Instead, it will be up to the Alberta Energy Regulator to conduct a provincial assessment and determine whether to approve the company’s application.
Thomson describes it as one of the last regulatory hurdles for the U.S.-based owners to clear, and it’s not yet known how substantive the review will be.
“If the [Alberta Energy Regulator] decides that this will be undertaken quickly, with little public involvement, then that poses pretty significant risks,” he said. “As most Albertans know, there can be profound impacts from development of coal in our Rocky Mountains.”
The issue has been front and centre in the province ever since the United Conservative government of Jason Kenney first removed a moratorium on coal mining along the Rockies and then bowed to public pressure to reinstate the old rules. The current government has once again lifted the decades-old restrictions.
Public concerns over water contamination and pollution, particularly among ranchers and nearby municipalities were central concerns, as was the idea of open-pit mines along the Rocky Mountains.
The regulator is accepting statements of concern regarding the project until May 22. Coral Hulse, a spokesperson for the regulator, said anyone who believes they may be adversely impacted by the project can submit a statement, and that those statements can prolong the process.
Hulse also said it hasn’t been determined whether the project will have a public hearing.
“Our decision to hold a hearing is made on a case-by-case basis,” she wrote in response to questions from The Narwhal.
The Vista mine, owned by Coalspur Mines Ltd., is located approximately 280 kilometres west of Edmonton, nestled into the eastern slopes of the Rockies near the town of Hinton, Alta. All of the coal produced at the mine is shipped by rail and then overseas where it is used to create electricity.
Opened in 2019, the mine currently has a maximum production limit of 7.5 million tonnes of coal per year, but the company says that’s expected to drop in the coming years, before tapering off completely by 2032 when the first phase of the mine will close.
“Phase II is effectively a continuation of the Vista Mine surface mine,” the company said in its application to the regulator. “It is proposed to commence in 2026, when current mine fleets would expect to be reduced, and it will operate for 12 years, therefore prolonging the life of the mine and sustain the full workforce for an additional 12 years.”
It expects the expansion will produce 5.5 million tonnes of coal per year. In 2022, Canada produced 19.3 million tonnes of thermal coal, a decline of more than 15 million tonnes from 2013.
Coalspur Mines has asked for access to 5.4 billion litres of water as part of its application to the regulator.
Daniel Cheater, another Ecojustic lawyer working on the Vista mine file, said the bulk of the water will be taken from the McLeod River, a critical habitat for rainbow and bull trout, both of which are listed as species at risk.
“Coalspur has also consistently demonstrated a failure to manage tailings from the existing Phase I of the Vista coal mine,” he added, noting the company’s own application says water from tailings will seep through into the nearby McPherson Creek “approximately 11 to 160 years” after wastewater stops flowing into the ponds.
The project could also completely dry up both McPherson Creek and one of its tributaries. The company plans to divert water from the McLeod River post-mining, but notes recovery will take decades.
The company did not respond to an interview request.
The existing mine has not been without its challenges.
In 2021, two years after it opened, the mine entered into creditor protection as its finances collapsed. It clawed its way back to life in 2022, in part by avoiding full payment of debts to local businesses.
When it initiated creditor protection proceedings, Coalspur owed nearly $5 million to local businesses, ranging from car dealerships to oilfield services to welding shops.
In the final affidavit submitted as part of the creditor protection process by Coalspur’s president and CEO Michael Beyer, an American living in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Beyer said emerging from the proceedings intact, as opposed to a fire sale of assets, was a better outcome for all creditors and would enable relationships into the future.
The mine is a significant economic driver in the region and is supported by the Ermineskin Cree Nation, which has signed benefit agreements with Coalspur.
A representative with the nation’s consultation department did not respond to an interview request prior to publication.
The expansion comes at a time of heightened international political and economic tension, not to mention the increasing threat of climate change. The proposal also clashes with a pledge by the federal Liberal government in 2021 to phase out exports of thermal coal by 2030.
“It’s hard to see how it benefits our country to allow this company to build one of the biggest thermal coal mines in Canadian history on the edge of Jasper National Park,” Thomson said.
“I think a lot of Canadians right now think that we should be investing in Canadian industries and preserving our export capacity, the limited export capacity that we have, for goods that keep profits inside our country and that don’t just profit American companies.”
Thomson is also concerned about the emissions impacts of amping up coal production.
The company says it expects emissions from its operations to be approximately 352,000 tonnes per year. That does not account for the carbon dioxide that would be released when the coal is ultimately used; burning 5.5 million tonnes of coal generates about twice that mass in carbon dioxide. Thomson said the emissions from the mine at peak production could be equivalent to that of four million cars, when factoring in burning the coal overseas.
“Given the events of the last few months, we often lose sight of the fact that we are also in a climate crisis, and thermal coal is one of the world’s dirtiest fossil fuels,” he said. “It really has no place in a world serious about tackling the climate crisis.”
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