Question Period Note: Grassy Mountain Coal Project

• My department is committed to conserving and protecting Canada’s fish and fish habitat, including species at risk like the Westslope Cutthroat Trout and its habitat.
• My department has been actively involved in the assessment of this project and is aware that the joint review panel has released its report and has denied provincial applications required for the project to proceed.
• My department is currently reviewing the joint panel report in its entirety, and will work with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada on any necessary next steps related to the federal environmental assessment process.

• The Joint Review Panel provided the Environmental Assessment Report to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Alberta Energy Regulator on June 18, 2021. The panel found that, among other things, the project would have significant adverse environmental effects on water quality and fish and fish habitat, including impacts on the Westslope Cutthroat Trout (WSCT) and its habitat.
• The panel, in its authority as the Alberta Energy Regulator, denied the applications by the proponent under the provincial Coal Conservation Act as well as other provincial approvals required for the project.
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is continuing its review of the findings and will work with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (the Agency) on next steps related to the federal environmental assessment.
• On December 17, 2020, the Governor in Council extended the time limit for the issuance of the Decision Statement for the proposed Grassy Mountain Coal Project by 135 days (4.5 months). The Joint Review Panel was required to submit its report no later than June 18, 2021, with an environmental assessment decision statement anticipated by November 15, 2021.
• The project would likely require the issuance of a Fisheries Act authorization that has the same effect as a Species at Risk Act (SARA) permit for impacts to WSCT critical habitat. Based on the information available at this time, DFO has indicated that the section 73(3)(c) preconditions of SARA are not likely to be met for the project, as there is potential for significant adverse effects on WSCT, which will jeopardize its survival or recovery.
• DFO provided a written submission to the Joint Review Panel on September 21, 2020, and participated in the virtual public hearings held from October 27, 2020, to December 2, 2020.
• The primary impacts of the project within DFO’s mandate include tributary loss, riparian loss, and flow changes in Gold Creek, which supports a pure population of WSCT and is designated critical habitat; and riparian loss and flow changes in Blairmore Creek.
• In 2005, WSCT was assessed as “Threatened” by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, and in 2013 the species was listed as “Threatened” under Part 3 of Schedule 1 of SARA. The species is also listed as “Threatened” under Alberta’s Wildlife Act. A federal recovery strategy, which adopted the Alberta Westslope Cutthroat Trout Recovery Plan 2012-2017 and identified critical habitat for this species, was included on the public registry in 2014. In 2015, a critical habitat order for the WSCT was published. In 2019, the recovery strategy was replaced with the Recovery Strategy and Action Plan for the Westslope Cutthroat Trout Alberta Population in Canada.
• The project is subject to an environmental assessment (EA) pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, as well as an environmental impact assessment pursuant to the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act carried out by the Alberta Energy Regulator. The federal EA was referred to a joint review panel in 2016, and the panel members were appointed in 2018.
• Benga Mining Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Riversdale Resources Limited, is proposing to construct and operate an open-pit metallurgical coal mine near the Crowsnest Pass, approximately seven kilometres north of the community of Blairmore, in southwest Alberta. As proposed, the production capacity of the project would be a maximum of 4.5 million tonnes of clean coal per year, over a mine-life of about 25 years.

None