Alberta musician Corb Lund comes out against proposed coal mines in Rocky Mountains
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — Corb Lund, perhaps Canada's pre-eminent singer about rural life and cowboy culture, is warning Albertans.
© Provided by The Canadian Press
"I've seen this coming for a while," he said from his home in Lethbridge, Alta., the day after posting a Facebook video lambasting the province's plans to open a vast stretch of its Rocky Mountains to open-pit coal mining.
"I've seen this coming for a while," he said from his home in Lethbridge, Alta., the day after posting a Facebook video lambasting the province's plans to open a vast stretch of its Rocky Mountains to open-pit coal mining.
"I wrote this song about 15 years ago. It's called "This Is My Prairie."
In it, a rancher laments the industrialization and destruction of the landscape — exactly what Lund fears may happen to his beloved Alberta foothills as coal companies snap up thousands of hectares of previously unmined mountaintops and valleys.
"The scope of this thing — it's huge," Lund said in an interview. "I'm from the foothills and it threatens the hell out of our water. And the mountains. It's a big one."
Lund has released 11 albums documenting the life and culture of those who ride horses to work, labour outdoors, and know what it means when the truck gets stuck in spring gumbo. He regularly tours Canada and around the world and is just as popular with the boots-and-Wranglers set as he is with urban hipsters.
In his video, Lund talks about the province rescinding coal policy dating from 1976, which made those landscapes off-limits to that kind of development.
"There's a lot of bad things about it," he said on Facebook. "It's scary. I'm spooked."
Lund, a sixth-generation southern Albertan, points out the area contains the headwaters for freshwater on which millions depend. Coal mining can release selenium, a highly toxic element that is already poisoning watersheds downstream of coal mines in British Columbia.
Perhaps just as bad is the way the change was made, he said.
"I don't like how it was done, with seemingly no public consultation of potentially affected parties."
That's one of the reasons he made the video — to let people know what was happening.
"Not many people know about it. My friends that irrigate in southern Alberta didn't know about it, and I didn't know about it until December."
Lund said his concerns aren't political.
"I've talked to people in three different political parties about this, federal and provincial. I've talked to ranchers and farmers. I've talked to all sides here."
He's met with Alberta Environment Minister Jason Nixon and Energy Minister Sonya Savage.
"I asked them why this is a good idea. I wasn't satisfied with the answers,'' he said.
"They're basically asking us to trust them but I don't trust anyone on this stuff."
The Alberta government did not immediately comment.
Lund said coal mining is not a divisive issue in his circles. People oppose it.
"I haven't really run into too many people who think it's a good idea to rip up the mountains and poison the water."
"I understand (the government is) trying to help the economy, but this is short-term, silly thinking."
The eastern slopes, where the prairies vault into the spires of the Rocky Mountains, are too close to Alberta's sense of itself to mess with, he said.
"I've travelled a lot. Every time I get off the airplane in Calgary and start driving south, it's a magical feeling for me. It's a pretty damn special place and anyone who visits and hasn't seen it is like, 'Oh my God.'"
Alberta has a long history of taking shots from entertainment figures who disagree with its environmental policies. The list includes Jane Fonda, James Cameron, Neil Young and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Lund doesn't want to be added to that folder.
"I live here," he said. "My family's been here since the 1800s. It's different."
Lund isn't sure what his next step will be, or if there is a next step.
"I don't know," he said. "I've always stayed out of current events because I feel I have a different role to play.
"But this one's such a big deal I just can't stay out of it."
-- By Bob Weber in Edmonton
-- Follow @row1960 on Twitter
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2021.
The Canadian Press
Perhaps just as bad is the way the change was made, he said.
"I don't like how it was done, with seemingly no public consultation of potentially affected parties."
That's one of the reasons he made the video — to let people know what was happening.
"Not many people know about it. My friends that irrigate in southern Alberta didn't know about it, and I didn't know about it until December."
Lund said his concerns aren't political.
"I've talked to people in three different political parties about this, federal and provincial. I've talked to ranchers and farmers. I've talked to all sides here."
He's met with Alberta Environment Minister Jason Nixon and Energy Minister Sonya Savage.
"I asked them why this is a good idea. I wasn't satisfied with the answers,'' he said.
"They're basically asking us to trust them but I don't trust anyone on this stuff."
The Alberta government did not immediately comment.
Lund said coal mining is not a divisive issue in his circles. People oppose it.
"I haven't really run into too many people who think it's a good idea to rip up the mountains and poison the water."
"I understand (the government is) trying to help the economy, but this is short-term, silly thinking."
The eastern slopes, where the prairies vault into the spires of the Rocky Mountains, are too close to Alberta's sense of itself to mess with, he said.
"I've travelled a lot. Every time I get off the airplane in Calgary and start driving south, it's a magical feeling for me. It's a pretty damn special place and anyone who visits and hasn't seen it is like, 'Oh my God.'"
Alberta has a long history of taking shots from entertainment figures who disagree with its environmental policies. The list includes Jane Fonda, James Cameron, Neil Young and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Lund doesn't want to be added to that folder.
"I live here," he said. "My family's been here since the 1800s. It's different."
Lund isn't sure what his next step will be, or if there is a next step.
"I don't know," he said. "I've always stayed out of current events because I feel I have a different role to play.
"But this one's such a big deal I just can't stay out of it."
-- By Bob Weber in Edmonton
-- Follow @row1960 on Twitter
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2021.
The Canadian Press
Alberta decision to open Rockies to coal mining to face court challenges in new year
December 24, 2020·
December 24, 2020·
NOTE THE DATE ONCE AGAIN OUR RIGHT WING UCP GOVT TRIES TO HIDE ITS ECO DESTRUCTION UNDER A BUSHEL, RELEASING INFO XMAS WEEK
EDMONTON — The Alberta government is to face at least two court challenges in the new year over its decision to rescind decades-old protections and open the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains to coal mining.
Landowners and the Ermineskin and Whitefish Lake First Nations have filed separate requests for a judicial review of the decision, which they argue was made without legally required consultations.
"It really focuses in on the lack of consultation our clients received," said Richard Harrison, lawyer for several ranchers whose grazing leases overlap with land now available for open-pit, steelmaking coal mines.
"That one act — on the Friday before the May long weekend — to rescind the coal policy really had a detrimental effect."
Harrison said the requests are to come up in court the week of Jan. 18. A judge is to hear an argument from Alberta to have the applications dismissed and who will get intervener status if they go ahead.
Documents filed suggest government lawyers will argue that policies are not the same as legislation and can be changed unilaterally.
Alberta Energy did not respond to a request for responses it has filed with the court.
The eastern slopes comprise some of Alberta's most ecologically valuable land — habitat for threatened species as well as the headwaters of rivers millions of Albertans rely on for water.
In May, the United Conservative government announced it would remove rules for coal development in the region that had been in place since 1976. They set zones allowing no development in the most sensitive land and progressively more activity in proportion to the environmental value of the land.
The classifications were applied in advance of any assessment by the Alberta Energy Regulator.
Under the new policy, only the top designation remains. Mine proposals on all other land now go directly to the regulator.
Although it imposes conditions on development, the Alberta Energy Regulator has never turned a proposal down.
Court documents show the applicants will argue that both Alberta legislation and common practice require the province to consult with anyone affected before making land-use decisions. They point to the Alberta Land Stewardship Act and various land-use plans that have been agreed to over the years.
"There's a common law right to consultation when a government decision is going to affect you," said Harrison.
Legislation stipulates that whenever a land-use plan is changed or amended, appropriate public consultation must be carried out. The change must also be tabled in the legislature.
The applicants argue that a series of coal mines constitute a change in land use.
The Livingstone Landowners Group, which has asked to intervene, says its 2,500 members have worked with the province for years on managing competing uses.
"The province has always led us to believe that land-use planning needs input from local people," said president Bill Trafford. "Then they go, 'That's not convenient anymore.' "
Harrison said an Alberta Energy document shows the government chose to move unilaterally despite warnings from officials.
In that document, entered into the court record, Alberta Energy officials warned minister Sonya Savage that dismissing the coal policy on her own carried risks.
"It will draw criticism from environmental groups and other user groups active within Alberta's eastern slopes, particularly if the decision is made without prior public consultation."
It also warned that land-use plans agreed to over the years would be dramatically affected by removing the protections, leaving what it called "policy gaps."
One proposed coal mine, the Grassy Mountain project near the headwaters of the Oldman River, is before a joint federal-provincial review panel. Several others are waiting.
Earlier this month, the province sold coal leases for about 2,000 hectares on the eastern slopes. Land leased for coal now stretches in an almost unbroken swath for nearly 60 kilometres in Alberta's southwest corner.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 24, 2020.
Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
EDMONTON — The Alberta government is to face at least two court challenges in the new year over its decision to rescind decades-old protections and open the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains to coal mining.
Landowners and the Ermineskin and Whitefish Lake First Nations have filed separate requests for a judicial review of the decision, which they argue was made without legally required consultations.
"It really focuses in on the lack of consultation our clients received," said Richard Harrison, lawyer for several ranchers whose grazing leases overlap with land now available for open-pit, steelmaking coal mines.
"That one act — on the Friday before the May long weekend — to rescind the coal policy really had a detrimental effect."
Harrison said the requests are to come up in court the week of Jan. 18. A judge is to hear an argument from Alberta to have the applications dismissed and who will get intervener status if they go ahead.
Documents filed suggest government lawyers will argue that policies are not the same as legislation and can be changed unilaterally.
Alberta Energy did not respond to a request for responses it has filed with the court.
The eastern slopes comprise some of Alberta's most ecologically valuable land — habitat for threatened species as well as the headwaters of rivers millions of Albertans rely on for water.
In May, the United Conservative government announced it would remove rules for coal development in the region that had been in place since 1976. They set zones allowing no development in the most sensitive land and progressively more activity in proportion to the environmental value of the land.
The classifications were applied in advance of any assessment by the Alberta Energy Regulator.
Under the new policy, only the top designation remains. Mine proposals on all other land now go directly to the regulator.
Although it imposes conditions on development, the Alberta Energy Regulator has never turned a proposal down.
Court documents show the applicants will argue that both Alberta legislation and common practice require the province to consult with anyone affected before making land-use decisions. They point to the Alberta Land Stewardship Act and various land-use plans that have been agreed to over the years.
"There's a common law right to consultation when a government decision is going to affect you," said Harrison.
Legislation stipulates that whenever a land-use plan is changed or amended, appropriate public consultation must be carried out. The change must also be tabled in the legislature.
The applicants argue that a series of coal mines constitute a change in land use.
The Livingstone Landowners Group, which has asked to intervene, says its 2,500 members have worked with the province for years on managing competing uses.
"The province has always led us to believe that land-use planning needs input from local people," said president Bill Trafford. "Then they go, 'That's not convenient anymore.' "
Harrison said an Alberta Energy document shows the government chose to move unilaterally despite warnings from officials.
In that document, entered into the court record, Alberta Energy officials warned minister Sonya Savage that dismissing the coal policy on her own carried risks.
"It will draw criticism from environmental groups and other user groups active within Alberta's eastern slopes, particularly if the decision is made without prior public consultation."
It also warned that land-use plans agreed to over the years would be dramatically affected by removing the protections, leaving what it called "policy gaps."
One proposed coal mine, the Grassy Mountain project near the headwaters of the Oldman River, is before a joint federal-provincial review panel. Several others are waiting.
Earlier this month, the province sold coal leases for about 2,000 hectares on the eastern slopes. Land leased for coal now stretches in an almost unbroken swath for nearly 60 kilometres in Alberta's southwest corner.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 24, 2020.
Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
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