Question Period Note: Grassy Mountain Coal Project

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 Minister of Environment and Climate Change has issued a negative environmental assessment decision and that the joint review panel has denied provincial applications required for the project to proceed.

• On August 13, 2021, Benga Mining Ltd. (the proponent) filed a judicial review of the decisions under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA 2012). The application states that the Ministerial and Cabinet decisions in relation to the environmental assessment (EA) were unlawful, incorrect, unreasonable and/or unconstitutional.
• On August 6, 2021, following review of the Joint Review Panel (JRP)’s Report, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change (ECC) issued the federal EA Decision Statement to the proponent, under CEAA 2012, indicating the project cannot proceed. The Governor in Council found that the adverse environmental effects were not justified in the circumstances.
• Between July 16-19, 2021, following release of the JRP’s Report, the proponent and two First Nations submitted separate applications to the Court of Appeal of Alberta indicating mainly that the JRP, in its provincial capacity, erred in law.
• The JRP provided the EA Report to the Minister of ECC and the Alberta Energy Regulator on June 18, 2021. The JRP 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 JRP, 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.
• 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, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (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 JRP on September 21, 2020, and participated in the virtual public hearings held from October 27 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 EA pursuant to CEAA 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 JRP in 2016, and the panel members were appointed in 2018.
• The proponent 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.

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