Crowsnest Pass residents to vote on Grassy Mountain coal project
Area council passed a motion this week to hold a vote in the southern Alberta community within 90 days
Crowsnest Pass municipal council will ask its residents whether they support a proposed coal mining project in the nearby the Rocky Mountains.
Council passed a motion Tuesday to hold a non-binding vote that will ask residents within 90 days whether they support the development and operations of the coal mine at Grassy Mountain.
The subject of the vote is Northback Holdings' plan to explore for a steel-making coal mine near Crowsnest Pass, located about 240 kilometres southwest of Calgary.
Dean Ward, a municipal council member, put the motion forward because he feels residents weren't being heard in recent debates about the project.
"I don't see any of these groups that have stepped forward opposed to this project that have said once, 'Let's go see how the residents of Crowsnest Pass feel about this issue,'" Ward told CBC Radio's The Homestretch on Friday.
"I don't think we're getting a lot of input at all."
The Grassy Mountain project has drawn support from a number of local residents for the well-paying jobs it could bring to the area. But others have raised concerns about the project's impact on wildlife, air and water quality, and the landscape.
Ward said he believes the jobs the project would bring could draw more people to the region and help the municipality grow.
"It gives people the potential to make a good wage," Ward said.
"The burden of everything we're trying to do in this town is placed on the residential taxpayers, which is very hard when 40 per cent of your population are seniors. And we're struggling. We want this community to thrive and grow."
Northback spokesperson Rina Blacklaws said the company welcomes the vote, adding its project has received significant support from Crowsnest Pass residents.
"When they have their say that does not mean that we can then go ahead and build a mine," Blacklaws said.
"It means that we can proceed through the regulatory process with community support, hopefully."
She added the company has been conducting community outreach in the area through open houses and tours, and is developing a new mine plan to submit to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER).
Northback has applied for three new exploration permits at Grassy Mountain, though the same mine proposal was previously denied by federal and provincial environmental review panels.
News of the Crowsnest Pass council's decision follows several recent requests for the AER to call off hearings on the Grassy Mountain project while the Alberta Court of Appeals considers whether applications for the proposal are legitimate.
Two years ago, Alberta's provincial government said in a ministerial order that no more coal development would be allowed in the Rocky Mountains.
However, Brian Jean, who became provincial energy minister after the order was issued, later argued Northback's proposal should be considered exempt from that ban because it had previously come before regulators.
The AER agreed and has scheduled public hearings on the applications for Dec. 3 and 4.
The Municipal District of Ranchland is calling to delay those hearings. It argues the AER was wrong to exempt Northback's proposal because of the project's previous rejection by a regulatory body.
The AER is weighing Ranchland and Northback's arguments, and will issue a decision after Sept. 20 about whether it will delay the project's public hearings.
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With files from Tiphanie Roquette and The Canadian Press