CROWSNEST PASS, Alta. — It’s been more than 40 years since coal was king in the scenic Crowsnest Pass of southwestern Alberta, but a referendum vote Monday could sway a contentious debate on bringing it back.
The Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, home to about 6,000, is asking residents to say yes or no to a straightforward question: “Do you support the development and operations of the metallurgical coal mine at Grassy Mountain?”
Advance voting began days earlier and while Monday’s result won’t be binding or have any influence on regulatory or legal challenges, it’s another factor in the ongoing, polarizing public debate of economy versus environment.
Crowsnest Pass Mayor Blair Painter supports the plan.
“The fact is we have been on a direction of supporting this project. We don’t have an industry. We need an industry,” Painter said in an interview.
“Our tax base is over 80 per cent residential. We’d like to ease that off our residents and this would give us the opportunity to be able to do that.”
Australia-based mining company Northback said it wants to develop the Grassy Mountain coal project at a site that was mined over 60 years ago but never properly restored. It says it would be reclaimed throughout the duration of the project.
Northback says metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel, is a basic building block for any economy, but opponents worry about the impact on downstream drinking water and the broader ecosystem.
The issue is still before Alberta’s energy regulator and opponents are also challenging the project through the courts.
David McIntyre, who along with his wife, Monica Field, were former managers of the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre, have been vocal opponents to development in the area.
McIntyre, who lives about 10 kilometres downwind of the proposed mine, is worried about the noise and carcinogenic particles that would come with it.
He said they were told they are just outside the municipal boundary and are unable to vote and that there are hundreds more that moved in during the “post-coal era” who are also on the outside looking in.
“It appears very obvious that the community of Crowsnest Pass, to try and get this vote, are working very hard to ensure that the people they have voting, the old-school miners and families who are hoping for coal, (will) turn the tide,” McIntyre said in an interview.
McIntyre said if the mine does go ahead, it won’t mean long-term prosperity for the area.
“If it’s a-go, it won’t be the future of the Pass. It will be the short-term future of the Pass but won’t impact its long-term worth.”