Gov’t has bias on coal policy, SACPA told
By Tim Kalinowski on April 27, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs welcomed Alberta Wilderness Association conservation director Ian Urquhart to a special edition of its YouTube weekly livestream speaker series on Monday to discuss his thoughts on the current coal policy review underway in Alberta.Urquhart said, drawing on his decades of experience as a political scientist, the intentions of the government are always revealed in how it frames the questions it is asking Albertans to “consult” on.
In the case of the coal policy review, the government’s bias is obvious, he stated, when it drafts terms of reference around the policy review which precludes land use and water considerations from being part of the policy process.
“Is it about developing coal or the future of the Eastern Slopes?” Urquhart asked rhetorically. “This should be about the future of the Eastern Slopes, not just about developing coal. And what my fear, what my reservation, is about this process is it is more of that first question. It is more about how we develop coal in Alberta and not about the Eastern Slopes.
“I think this is very much a survey that was designed to get us to comment to the government, give our feedback, about how coal may be developed.”
Urquhart said he, like many in Alberta who have spoken out against the Kenney’s government’s intentions when it comes to coal development in recent months, have another preferred option which is not even on the table for discussion.
“A modern coal policy, to me, when it comes to the Eastern Slopes is a ‘No coal’ policy,” stated Urquhart. “Times have changed dramatically from what they were back then (in 1976), and, in my way of thinking, have changed in a way where a modern coal policy should simply be a policy that says ‘No’ to coal.”
On an issue of more local importance, Urquhart also stated, that despite Environment Minister Jason Nixon’s very recent protestations to the contrary, there is no possible way to allow greater coal development in the Eastern Slopes without reallocating massive volumes of water above the Oldman River for that very purpose.
“If that’s true, I don’t know why MLAs like (Fort Macleod MLA) Roger Reid were consulting with any number of groups along the Eastern Slopes south of Nanton about that very possibility,” stated Urquhart. “I didn’t think it was far-fetched to see the government was reconsidering the Oldman River allocation order which applies to those waters in the headwaters to the dam– not below the dam. So I would say that is very hard to accept. That is very hard to believe.
“I am sorry,” he added. “I think there is a lot of stuff on the public record that really casts serious doubt on the accuracy of what the Minister is suggesting– unless they abandon it altogether.”
Urquhart, going back to his political framing argument made earlier in his presentation, said Nixon can also say truthfully nothing in the regulations will change around water when it comes to things like selenium pollution. But these statements, said Urquhart, omit the fact that Alberta Minister of Environment and Parks has broad powers to issue site specific exceptions without changing any of the rules under the Water Act.
Urquhart gave the example of Benga’s presentation to the Joint Review Panel last year wherein they admitted they could not meet Alberta’s current minimum selenium level requirements at its proposed Grassy Mountain mine, and would still be putting out seven times that amount into local waterways despite the fact they have continued to experiment with new technologies to get those selenium levels down.
“When Minister Nixon says that (Alberta’s water regulations are robust) what he is not telling us is that the provincial government has the ability to say: ‘That our limit is two micrograms per litre, but we are going to allow you 15 micrograms per litre.’ I think what the Minister is avoiding identifying or acknowledging is he has the ability to issue site specific water guidelines, and those site specific water guidelines will not necessarily conform to the provincial ones.”
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