MP McPherson tables Private Member’s Bill to curtail coal mining

Edmonton NDP MP Heather McPherson’s bill would ensure that all coal projects are required to undergo federal impact assessment prior to approval

Today, NDP MP Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona) took aim at the United Conservative government’s coal mining plans in the Rocky Mountains and Eastern Slopes, tabling a Private Members’ Bill designed to ensure that all new coal projects will be subject to federal environmental review.

Bill C-205 amends the federal Impact Assessment Act, removing minimum production thresholds that trigger federal environmental review for new coal mines, effectively putting the future of coal mining in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains and Eastern Slopes in the hands of the federal government.

Bill C-205 would embed in law a policy that the former Minister of Environment and Climate Change adopted last Parliament in response to McPherson’s urging. That policy change spelled the end to Australia’s Benga Mining Limited’s Grassy Mountain coal project and forced Montem Resource’s Tent Mountain coal redevelopment project into federal environmental review. The public comment period on the Tent Mountain proposal is underway and will run through December 16.

McPherson didn’t hesitate to identify her motivation for the bill, stating “We can't trust Jason Kenney and the UCP to protect the Rocky Mountains and Eastern Slopes.”

The Grassy Mountain proposal sparked outrage among Albertans with environmentalists and Indigenous activists joining farmers, ranchers, and recording artists like Corb Lund to protest the mine that would have decapitated Grassy Mountain. The joint federal-provincial review rejected that mine in June, finding that it was not in the public interest. The proposed Tent Mountain redevelopment, located at the headwaters of the Oldman watershed, is now facing similar objection.

“Coal mining is not the future Albertans want or need,” added McPherson. “Albertans need the federal government to stand up to the UCP and stop them from destroying our mountains, our water, our wildlife, and our land for generations to come.”