Time to Judge Coal Companies by their Actions, not their Words

September 1, 2025

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• Coal
• WLA Archive

 

By Kennedy Halvorson

Read the PDF version here.

 

Coal companies have vowed they will employ only the best and strictest management practices and abide by all of Alberta’s “stringent” environmental standards. They swear they can explore and extract without compromising ecological integrity, threatening community health, or polluting watersheds. These promises underscore their applications; they’re used to justify coal operations, to encourage support for and expansion of the industry.

And yet, time and time again these promises are broken.

Just over a year and a half ago, staff from Forestry and Parks inspected public lands in use by Montem Resources Ltd., a company with coal mining (and renewable) aspirations near Crowsnest Pass in southern Alberta.

The staff found that Montem had undertaken numerous unauthorized activities, excavating two borrow pits and infilling Crowsnest Creek and a nearby flood plain. There were no proper environmental protection measures, leading to erosion and sedimentation in the watershed.

Following the inspection Montem was directed to remediate all the infractions immediately, but multiple follow-ups found their efforts either insufficient or completely absent. The same issues persisted, and 10 months later government staff flagged another problem; the flow of Crowsnest Creek had been diverted by the company’s construction material. Forced to travel down a road and trail before rejoining its normal route, Crowsnest Creek had become increasingly turbid, clouded with loosened soil and silt.

They were given a notice of concern; another chance to rectify the issues. Half a year later, another visit from Forestry and Parks confirmed nothing had been resolved. This February, the company was slapped with an enforcement order under the Public Lands Act: Montem must stop all activities, remove all personal property, create a remediation plan, and return the area to its pre-disturbance state before May 1.

Montem is no outlier, and evidence of non-compliance is common. Just take CST Canada Coal Ltd. for example. The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) just issued the company an administrative penalty on Feb. 24, their second in as many months. The penalties were the outcome of a two-year investigation by the AER, following multiple events during which CST failed to promptly notify the regulator when they inadvertently released about 9,000 kilograms of coal fines and 1.2 million litres of mining wastewater into the Smoky River near Grande Cache. Or look to Coalspur Mines Ltd., who has had 5 separate incidents where mine wastewater exceeded permitted chemical and physical limits in the last year.

These infractions also appear to have little effect on each company’s ability to continue operating in the province. Just last December, Coalspur’s proposal to expand the largest open-pit thermal coal mine in Canada by 44 percent was waved through without an impact assessment. At the same time CST’s wastewater spills were being investigated by the AER, the regulator approved the company’s applications to extend their mine depth. And following the government’s January announcement ending the coal moratorium, the AER re-activated and extended all of Montem’s former leases and approvals in the Oldman River’s headwaters.

The assumption in Alberta that development is responsible, that it won’t pollute the environment or threaten human health hinges entirely on the belief that industry will do what they promise and comply with the law, and that the government regulation and enforcement will be effective and timely.

These examples show what a shaky assumption that is, and begs the question; when do we stop trusting these companies on their word and start believing their actions?