Contributor Dr. Ian Urquhart is Professor Emeritus of Political Science from the University of Alberta.
In memory of Kris Unger. Kris was passionate about preserving Alberta’s landscapes, most especially perhaps the Eastern Slopes and the Rockies. I hope his spirit approves of the following
Introduction
Disingenuous. That’s how The Globe and Mail’s Emma Graney characterized Energy Minister Brian Jean at the news conference announcing the government’s vague Coal Industry Modernization Initiative. Deceptive and brazen also would be fitting adjectives. In their 30-minute news conference Mr. Jean and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz failed miserably to communicate accurate information to the public about many vital aspects of exploiting coal in Alberta. One of the few unequivocal truths they offered was their hope that Alberta’s mountain coal resources will be mined.
The essential deceptiveness of the Coal Modernization Initiative (CIMI) may be shown by using the template found in The Washington Post’s fact checker. The Post invites the public to hold politicians accountable by awarding Pinocchios to politicians for what they say. The more Pinocchios, the more untruthful a politician’s claims. Mostly true statements get one Pinocchio, half-truths receive two Pinocchios, mostly false claims (characterized by factual errors and contradictions) are awarded three Pinocchios, and flat-out untrue claims or “whoppers” garner four Pinocchios.
Energy Minister Jean’s Comments
Mr. Jean set the misinformation tone early in the news conference, an event strategically held on the Friday before Christmas. Near the outset he declared “we heard you Albertans” – his declaration of his Initiative’s fidelity to the 2021 Coal Policy Committee recommendations. Many will remember this committee as the Kenney government’s response to the tremendous public opposition to the UCP’s decision to revoke the 1976 Coal Policy and that policy’s de facto prohibition of coal mining along most of the Eastern Slopes.
Dr. Ron Wallace, environmental scientist and former Chair of the National Energy Board, chaired this committee. As Chair he insisted, with Energy Minister Sonya Savage’s support, that the Committee would examine a wide-range of issues – much more than what pro-coal ministers such as Jason Nixon and departmental officials wanted any such committee to consider.
The Wallace Committee consulted widely: the public, industry, experts, and many other groups expressed their views and shared their research about the future of coal in Alberta. The Committee’s report animated then-Energy Minister Sonya Savage’s March 2022 Ministerial Order. Her order underlined that coal development AND exploration in the Eastern Slopes should “remain suspended until such time as sufficient land use clarity has been provided through a planning activity.” Only “advanced coal projects” and active mines were exempt from this Order.
If you’re still filled with the generosity of the Christmas season, then Mr. Jean only was guilty of offering a half-truth when he said he was addressing the committee’s recommendations. Sure, he embraced the Committee’s phrase “modernization” and said he would be “substantially increasing coal royalties” – a nod to the Committee’s call to ensure Albertans receive fair value from companies exploiting the public’s coal resources.
But that’s about as close as Mr. Jean came to respecting the specifics and intent of the Coal Policy Committee recommendations. Closely comparing his remarks to the Committee’s recommendations will tell you this: many of his remarks offered mostly false or flat-out untrue information.
New Open Pit Coal Mines and Selenium: Four Pinocchios
Just after the six-minute mark in the news conference Mr. Jean said, in a stumbling delivery, that there would be no more new open pit coal mines in the Foothills. “Let me repeat,” he said, “no new (awkward pause) open pit coal mines in the Foothills.” This statement may have inspired Emma Graney’s suggestion that Mr. Jean was disingenuous. Northback Holdings hopes to bring the Grassy Mountain project back from the dead. The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) rejected unequivocally this mine proposal in 2021… no ifs, ands, or buts. Grassy Mountain was, as the mine’s proponent Riversdale Resources told the AER, an open pit coal mine.
Mr. Jean gets four Pinocchios here. In Jean’s mind, a new open pit coal mine on Grassy Mountain isn’t a new open pit mine at all. Here Jean delivered what I believe the Post would call a whopper, a flat-out untrue statement. The logical gymnastics Minister used to suggest that building a new open pit coal mine north of Crowsnest Pass somehow would not be a new open pit coal mine should make heads spin. In Minister Jean’s world, a mine neither has to exist nor be approved in order to exist already.
Four Pinocchios also seem deserved for Mr. Jean’s comments about the coal industry and selenium pollution. He said: “Any existing or new coal project in the Foothills will need to prevent additional selenium leaching into our waters. This can be done. Industry knows how to do it, and we will make sure that industry does whatever is necessary to keep selenium out of our waters.”
Dr. Bill Donahue was the scientist who alerted the public to high levels of selenium pollution in the waters downstream of metallurgical coal mines south of Hinton. He is unaware of any technology or process able to stop the release of selenium from coal mining. And, if industry knows how to do it, why has Teck (now Glencore) been unable to satisfactorily address selenium pollution in B.C.’s Elk Valley after spending nearly $2 billion on mitigation measures? If industry has a cost-effective way to prevent selenium from leaching into waters, it’s keeping it a secret. Four Pinocchios.
Global Demand for Metallurgical Coal and the Relationship Between Royalties and Competitiveness: Three Pinocchios
Three Pinocchios seem deserved for Mr. Jean’s statements about the global demand for coal and on the relationship between royalties and competitiveness.
Would new Alberta metallurgical coal production find a place in the global supply of metallurgical coal? Mr. Jean certainly thinks so “given the current and anticipated future global demand for coal.” This is the tune the Coal Association of Canada sang at the Grassy Mountain hearing in 2020 and likely sang to Alberta government ministers and officials when it lobbied them during 2024.
One would hope our Minister of Energy has heard of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and its research. The IEA released its annual coal report the day before Mr. Jean unveiled his Coal Industry Modernization concept. The IEA describes its annual report as “the global benchmark for medium-term coal market forecasts.” And, unlike the stale, out-of-date information found on the Coal Association of Canada’s website, the IEA data is current.
With respect to the metallurgical coal market the IEA’s medium-term scenario sharply contradicts Jean’s musings. The IEA based this scenario to an important extent on steel production forecasts from organizations like the World Steel Association. It also considered expected GDP growth and industrial activity as well as the increasing rates of scrap steel utilization. Based on these sources the IEA forecasts metallurgical coal consumption will fall by seven per cent between now and 2027. The IEA data appears to pop Mr. Jean’s coal demand balloon.
With respect to royalties, Mr. Jean said at least three coal miners have told him that Alberta’s royalties are too low. The Minister said: “They’re too low? We’re going to bring them up. I don’t know what that number is going to be yet because we have to consult with industry, and we have to make sure we’re competitive across the world but right now we’re not competitive and we have to bring that rate up.”
The contradiction here is obvious. On its own, increasing the coal royalty will increase the costs of coal mining in Alberta and make Alberta coal less, not more, competitive. And, as the Minister must know, Alberta’s post-payout coking coal royalty rate already is marginally higher than the rate charged in B.C., the home of most of Canada’s metallurgical coal production. If Glencore, the new owner of B.C.’s Elk Valley mines, thinks Alberta coal could be a serious possible competitor it must have applauded Mr. Jean’s comments. Substantially increasing coal royalties contradicts the Minister’s intent to make Alberta coal more competitive.
Consulting About Coal Industry Modernization: No Pinocchios but…
Minister Jean’s thoughts about future coal policy consultation also were concerning. Industry, and only industry, needs to be consulted. He promised “targeted engagement with the coal industry stakeholders” (emphasis added). The public and other interests will be spectators. As we have come to expect with respect to too many fundamentally important public interest issues, our leaders believe only industry should join them at the decision-making table.
It was disingenuous of Mr. Jean to suggest this industry-only consultation will not discuss “what will and will not be allowed.” Take the issue of royalties. While he committed to substantially increase royalties he also said, as noted above, that he had to consult with industry and ensure Alberta’s competitiveness. This signals his openness to industry’s views about the substance of royalty policy.
Environment Minister Schulz on Land Use Planning: Four Pinocchios
Given Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz’s past efforts to portray Alberta as a climate change leader it wasn’t surprising to see her add to her Pinocchio collection when she spoke at the Coal Industry Modernization Initiative news conference.
Perhaps Ms. Schulz’s most outlandish claims concerned land use planning. Both former Minister Savage and the Coal Policy Committee stressed the need to ensure additional land use planning takes place before new coal mining activities were approved. The Committee was very clear that specific regional and subregional land use plans needed to be completed before coal mining could be considered in the Eastern Slopes. Minister Savage endorsed that recommendation when her Ministerial Order stated that Albertans expected coal exploration and development in the Eastern Slopes “to remain suspended until such time as sufficient land use clarity has been provided through a planning activity.”
During the news conference Ms. Schulz declared that Alberta “has one of the best and most comprehensive land use planning systems in the world. It has never been faster or more focused on what Albertans want to see happen right here in our province.”
The land use planning record doesn’t support her boast. Passed in 2009, the Alberta Land Stewardship Act authorized regional planning under the Land-use Framework. Seven planning regions, congruent with Alberta’s major watersheds, were established. In the intervening 15 years only two regional plans have been established. Alberta hasn’t adopted a regional plan since the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan was approved more than 10 years ago.
The record is anything but “faster and more focused.” And unless Albertans in the other seven planning regions don’t have any interest in regional planning it’s fanciful to suggest the provincial government’s land use planning efforts have respected their interests. Nigel Bankes, Sharon Mascher, and Martin Olszynski were on much firmer ground when the wrote in 2022 about the sad state of regional land use planning in Alberta. Four Pinocchios then seems a fitting reward for Ms. Schulz’s claim.
Ms. Schulz also very briefly referred to the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP). That plan clearly anticipated the additional planning with respect to coal called for by the Coal Policy Committee. Conservative and New Democratic Party governments alike though have never followed through on that.
Her only comment about the SSRP was that public input into the ten-year review had just concluded. What did Minister Schulz intend through her fleeting reference to public input on the SSRP review? Was it a signal that the government had completed the public consultation component inherent in the land use planning called for by the Wallace Committee? This seems preposterous. But, if it’s true, I think another four Pinocchios may be delivered to the Minister.
Conclusion: Another Exercise in Misinforming the Public
Many may have heard a lecture from an elderly soul about “the old days,” about how things were better in those days than they are now. I’m tempted to hypothesize that with respect to two features of politics – misinformation and the public’s willingness to accept it – life was better in the old days than it is now. Certainly, misinformation and propaganda have featured in politics for as long as it has existed. But I suspect both political misinformation and its acceptance are greater now than they were one or two generations ago. The news conference on the Coal Industry Modernization Initiative adds to the first part of this sorry record. Hopefully, the public’s reaction will not add to the second dimension.
In order to change this record the public needs to do things: identify the misinformation and deception and ensure their politicians pay a price for their indulgence. This is a New Year’s Resolution the people of Alberta, like the publics in many liberal democracies, must embrace if we hope to improve the democratic temper of government.
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