Summit Coal Inc. response to AWA statement of concern

November 28, 2023

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• Climate Change
• Coal
• Grizzly Bears
• Kakwa
• Little Smoky

On October 5th, the legal counsel for Summit Coal Inc. sent a letter addressing all the individuals, organizations, and communities who had submitted a statement of concern regarding their proposed Mine 14 expansion, including AWA. The introduction of their response to AWA is copied below:

“Summit has reviewed the SOCs and, for the reasons that follow, submits that the SOCs filed by AWA and CPAWS should be dismissed by the AER in their entirety, as neither of AWA or CPAWS have demonstrated that they may be directly and adversely affected by the Applications. More specifically, Summit submits that the SOCs filed by each of AWA and CPAWS do not account for the fact that Summit’s Mine 14 Project near Grande Cache, Alberta (the “Project”) has already been the subject of a public interest determination by the AER, and was previously subject to a series of robust and comprehensive environmental studies in connection with this determination. In other words, the concerns raised in the SOCs filed by AWA and CPAWS received fulsome consideration in the context of the regulatory proceedings which led to the issuance of the existing CCA9 Mine Permit No. C 2009-6 (the “Permit”) and Mine Licence No. C 2011-9 (the “Licence”) for the Project in 2009 and 2011, respectively. Put simply, AWA and CPAWS advocate for denial of the Applications while ignoring the extensive regulatory history of the Project. AWA and CPAWS are not concerned with the specifics of the Applications but are instead opposed to mining generally.”

Summit’s full response can be read here.