The Dangers of Mining the Eastern Slopes

Water Pollution

To get an idea of the impact of an open pit mine, one only has to look across the border to the Elk Valley in BC.  In addition to the obvious physical destruction of the landscape, selenium has been leaching into the Elk River watershed, causing deformities in fish populations and contaminating the drinking water in Sparwood.  

Teck Resources, the mine operator, issued a statement warning of drinking water contamination which lead to one of the town’s wells being taken offline and a number of private wells unusable.

The Elk River area in BC is now one of the biggest selenium contaminations in the world.

The Illusion of Economic Growth/Prosperity

The coal companies have promised hundreds of jobs and an influx of revenue to the town of Coleman, nearest to the mines. While, this sounds great initially… we need to realise that the hundreds of jobs are only temporary. Coal mining is in a huge technological advancement period now. They’re able to operate mines remotely, with a fraction of the staff they used to. As this becomes normal operating procedure, those jobs will be lost and unfortunately, the damage from mining will already be permanent.

Existing Economy

Alberta’s iconic Eastern Slopes are renowned for world-class fly fishing, iconic views, recreational opportunities and the unspoiled “cowboy country” rangeland. It’s an area that’s used by biologists, wildlife guides, camps, and the independent ranchers who produce our world renowned Alberta beef. It has drawn international tourists and been the backdrop for numerous movies including: Brokeback Mountain and Unforgiven.  

In other locations, coal mining has proven to be incompatible with businesses relying on scenic values, recreation and environmental pursuits. The area currently provides work for a number of Albertans and the loss of these opportunities is highly likely if the coal mining proceeds as planned.

Alberta’s health and reputation is at stake.

The Oldman River Headwaters

The proposed coal mining activity in the south Eastern Slopes impacts the headwaters of the Oldman River, southern Alberta’s primary source of water.  The Oldman River watershed supplies water to 40% of the irrigated land in Alberta and all of the water used by the City of Lethbridge.  The watershed is already under tremendous pressure with declining flow rates, highly variable water flows and increasing demand. 

Multiple mines diverting water for their operation and dust-suppression, combined with the leaching of toxic chemicals into the water source will prove devastating for downstream users.

Human Health Risks and Airborne Contaminants

The frequent and extreme wind conditions of the region also create high risk for airborne contaminants to affect residents and communities that are long distances from the actual mine sites.  Mining activities provide multiple pathways for the generation and distribution of mineral dusts that are readily transported by the wind over large distances.  Airborne contaminants pose human health risks.  

Selenium

Selenium is a naturally occurring chemical in the ecosystem. It’s normally trapped within the rocks and in small doses, it is not toxic. When the rock is pulverised in mountaintop removal mining, or open pit mining - the selenium is released into the ground waters in massive quantities. This is a serious problem. There is no existing technology that will enable the mining companies to remove the selenium from our water. The rocks will continue to leach this chemical into our water supply for generations to come, making the water downstream toxic and unfit for consumption. This has already occured in a number of wells downstream from the Elk Valley coal mines owned by Teck Resources.

Environmental Impact

The Coal Policy rescinded in June of this year was implemented in 1976 to improve protections for highly sensitive environmental areas and to optimize long term benefits for Alberta. The policy categorized land according to development potential with Category 1 – no development or exploration, Category 2 – limited exploration under strict control and restricted mine development (no open pit or surface mines), Category 3 - exploration permitted, restricted mine development and Category 4, - exploration and development permitted through normal approval procedures.

The coal policy cancellation retained protections for Category 1 but all other lands are now available for mining following normal approval processes.  The majority of the open pit metallurgical coal mining proposed for the south Eastern Slopes is on land previously designated at Category 2 (no open pit development).

Most of the proposed mining area is defined as environmentally sensitive habitat for at risk species.