City council looking into controversial coal proposal

By COLLIN GALLANT on January 20, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Medicine Hat city council will consider lending its voice to opposition of a coal mining proposal near the headwaters of the South Saskatchewan river basin.

The proposed Grassy Mountain coal mine would be located in the Crowsnest Pass, just north of the town of Blairmore.

Mayor Ted Clugston said Monday that the issue has been raised by some residents and council discussed the matter in its closed session prior to Monday’s regular meeting.

“We’ve asked staff to investigate whether this would affect our water supply, is this a danger to the residents of Medicine Hat, and we’ll consider it,” he said.

He says he hasn’t heard requests from other municipalities that oppose the new mine, which would require new ponds as well as water to wash coal used in steel-making that would be exported to Asia.

The Regional Municipality of the Crowsnest Pass supports the mine development.

That is near the tributaries of the Oldman River, which eventually joins with the Bow River to form the South Saskatchewan, from which Medicine Hat draws drinking water.

Country music stars Corb Lund and Paul Brandt helped elevate the issue when they came out publicly in opposition to the development.

This week it was announced that a new lawsuit from environmental groups and ranchers in southwestern Alberta ask courts to overturn a change in provincial policy to coal extraction in the southern Rockies that was enacted last May by the UCP.

The Town of High River has also objected to the overall changes, with Mayor Craig Snodgrass saying it could mean new mines nearer to Kananaskis Country and the source of the Highwood River.

The City of Lethbridge sent a “letter of concern” to the province and local MLAs in October, stating that its water supply from the Oldman might be put at risk from contamination of heavy metals.

The project is being proposed by Benga Mining, a subsidiary of Australian mining company Riversdale Resources.

A now-closed petition launched by former federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May states that along with risk of toxins leaching from ponds, the mine operation would alter tributaries and watersheds, potentially affecting flow.

The Blood Reserve opposes the planned 1,500-hectare mine, though Treaty 7 First Nations support the development, according to the company.