The ongoing conversation around coal mining in Alberta has heated up as of late.
So much so that a country musician, a former coal policy committee member, and a conservation worker are calling for a debate with the premier about coal mining to help clear the air around the issue.
Corb Lund has been vocal against coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rockies for some time and is one of the trio calling for the debate.
"Every time I talk about this, I say two things," says Lund. "The first thing I say that's really important is I don't care about political parties. I dislike them all, and I don't really trust hardly any politicians. So, this whole position I have on the coal issue has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with protecting the water and I don't care who did it, I would say the same things."
The second thing he stated was that he is not anti-resource and not a "raging lefty," as the people who brought this to his attention were ranching families who feared losing their water sources to these mines.
"A number of us that have been working on stopping the coal mines in the eastern slopes for four or five years now, and there's been so much government double speak and confusion and disingenuous, murkiness that a number of us have challenged Premier Smith and Minister Schulz, who's the environment minister, and Minister Jean, who's the energy minister to a clear, long-form publicly viewable debate about this stuff that's moderated."
Those who are seeking a debate with the premier and the ministers are Corb Lund, Bill Trafford, who was on the Alberta Coal Policy Committee, and Katie Morrison from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.
While Lund may be known as a Country musician, his family has been raising cattle in the area for five generations, and have been agricultural producers in Alberta for 120 years.
Not wanting to come across as an out-of-touch celebrity speaking out on an issue they don't fully understand, Lund did about six weeks' worth of research on coal mining in Alberta before issuing the challenge.
"Me and Katie and Bill have challenged the government folks to a debate about this for clarity, so people can understand what's going on because we've been very close to this issue for years now and we don't understand the government's position. It keeps changing and they appear to be playing word games. They keep changing the kinds of mines they're talking about. They keep confusing the issue."
Lund adds that there are numerous polls that show that the majority of Albertans are opposed to these mines, yet the government keeps trying to allow mining to happen on the Eastern Slopes.
According to a poll conducted by the Livingstone Landowners Group (LLG) and Save The Mountains - Alberta, 88 per cent of respondents do not think coal development in the Eastern Slopes should be allowed if it negatively impacts existing agriculture and tourism.
Not only that, but they also found that 73 per cent of those polled believe that the environmental risks associated with mining outweigh any economic benefits of future coal mining in the Eastern Slopes, and 77 per cent of those polled were concerned about possible selenium contamination in watersheds.
Additionally, 70 per cent of those polled expressed concern over coal dust being carried downwind from the mine sites.
"None of us understand why the government is so hell-bent on putting these mines through."
In 1976, Premier Lougheed introduced a Coal Policy, which was the overall policy for the development of the Province's coal resources, and the exploration and development of these coal resources are encouraged to be done in a manner that is compatible with the environment and at times that will best suit Alberta's economy and labour force.
In 2020, The United Conservative Party under Premier Kenney rescinded the 1976 Coal Policy, which allowed for open-pit mining to occur in sensitive areas of the Eastern Slopes, such as the Grassy Mountain Coal Project near Crowsnest Pass.
After hearing concerns over open-pit mining, the 1976 Coal Policy was reinstated in February 2021.
In December 2024, the Alberta government announced new rules around coal mining in Alberta, where Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean and Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Shulz said they are putting the environment first, and there would be no new open-pit mines or mountaintop removal happening in Alberta.
However, they made an exemption for the Grassy Mine Coal Project.
In January of this year, Minister Jean ordered the Alberta Energy Regulator to strip back restrictions on coal exploration and development to those specified in A Coal Development Policy for Alberta from 1976.
The Grassy Mountain Coal Project is at the headwaters of the Oldman River, which flows through Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, and Grassy Lake before it joins up with the Bow River to form the South Saskatchewan River, which eventually drains into the Hudson Bay.
"And it was turned down by the joint review panel two or three years ago," Lund explains."That was the federal government, as well as the provincial AER. Both of them jointly said that it was not in the public interest and the risks weren't worth the rewards. And it was shut down. And the coal companies appealed it two or three times and the courts denied the appeals and it was dead in the water. And two years later, Brian Jean just tells them they can apply again. And so all of us Albertans who are fighting this beat it once, and now here we are again, spending our time fighting the exact same project. And it makes you ask, you know, how many times do Albertans have to say no to these foreign coal companies? And why on earth is the government pushing these?"
Lund says he believes this is not a partisan issue because he knows conservative voters who are not in favour of coal mining.
According to Lund, they are hoping this debate will make the Alberta government explain why they think this coal mining is a good idea.
"It's a huge threat to our water in Southern Alberta, which is an economic agricultural powerhouse that depends on water."
Lund says he attended an event in Lethbridge about a month or so ago hosted by Minister Schulz about water usage, and people were lining up to ask questions about coal mining.
"And it was coal question after coal question after coal question, and her handler eventually said, you know, folks, we understand your concerns about coal, but we want to talk about other things about water. And two-thirds of the questions, maybe three-quarters, are about coal all night long. And you can't talk about the scarcity of water and water use in Alberta, Southern Alberta, without talking about the elephant in the room, which is putting a huge coal mine at the headwaters of the old man."
Throughout the event, Lund says Minister Schulz kept referring to studies the government had commissioned about coal mining in Alberta, which helped them to make their decision to allow mining to occur.
Those who were at that event were given the opportunity to email the government to receive access to those studies.
Lund did so and received those studies and shared them with us.
In a study called Legacy coal mining impacts downstream ecosystems for decades in the Canadian Rockies by Colin Cooke, Craig Emmerton, and Paul Drevnick speak to the effects of coal mining on the environment.
In the introduction to the study, they state "Mountaintop removal coal mining creates a waste problem, and piles of waste rock have literally buried valued ecosystems. Leaching of material from waste rock piles can pollute downstream ecosystems."
They go on to explain that previous monitoring and research of coal mining has identified elevated concentrations of selenium, nitrates, and ions in rivers draining mountaintop removal coal mines.
In the study titled Transboundary Atmospheric Pollution from Mountaintop Coal Mining by Colin Cooke and Paul Drevnick and the study called Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Contaminates Snowpack across a Broad Region by Colin Cooke, Kira Holland, Craig Emmerton, Paul Drevnick, Alison Criscitiello, and Brandi Newton, they talk about the pollution problems caused by coal mining.
Colin Cooke is a Senior Aquatic Scientist for the Government of Alberta. When contacted about the possibility of Cooke providing a comment, the Press Secretary to Honourable Rebecca Shulz responded with the following statement:
"Dr. Cooke is a government employee and a trained researcher. He is not a trained spokesperson. We are doing more research into coal remediation than any government in history, and that includes being more transparent than anyone else. We have funded this research, submitted it to peer-reviewed academic journals, and promoted it to stakeholders. Our government also paid to ensure that all research papers are accessible and available to all."
"The whole thing stinks," Lund says. "Like I've spent five years looking at this and I've seen every government briefing, I've talked to four government ministers. I've talked to the coal companies, two or three of them. I've talked to the coal lobby and it doesn't make any sense. And it smells and they're trying to hide it. And they're coming over with every excuse they can to let these mines go in."
Premier Smith previously stated there were a few reasons why they are allowing coal mining, with one of them being lawsuits from coal companies claiming they are owed billions of dollars in damages from the province.
"We have to take that seriously and we have to make sure that the taxpayers are protected. At the same time, metallurgical coal is incredibly valuable," Smith stated.
Lund doesn't believe that's true, saying Premier Smith is a fighter, and she isn't fighting them on this.
Another aspect Lund finds troubling is the fact that former Premier Jason Kenney now works for Bennet Jones law firm. They represent the Coal Association of Canada, which has lobbied for mining projects in the Eastern slopes of the Rockies.
It was under Kenney's tenure with the UCP that the 1976 Coal Policy was first rescinded several years ago.
Even though this proposed debate has been announced publically, Lund says they have not heard back from Premier Smith or her government yet.
"I'd be very surprised if they'd be willing to debate us about it."
At the time of publishing, the premier's office has not responded to the request for a statement about the proposed debate.