Days after the Alberta Energy Regulator approved Northback Holdings’ coal exploration program at the Grassy Mountain site, opponents gathered Monday in Crowsnest Pass to protest the decision.
Held under the banner of Defenders of the Eastern Slopes, the protest brought together concerned residents and environmental advocates who fear long-term damage to water and wildlife, and future land use along the Eastern Slopes.
It was the first protest following AER’s May 15 announcement.
“It was rather spontaneous and sudden,” Ken Williams, a volunteer with DOES, told Shootin’ the Breeze.
Williams noted that many anticipated the decision would come before the Victoria Day long weekend.
“It was an attempt to bury the news,” he said. “This demonstration was a counter to that sneaky attempt — an effort to say, ‘No, we are not asleep or distracted.’ ”
The protest was supported by a coalition of environmental groups including Save Our Slopes, Water for Food, Mountains Not Mines, Alberta Wilderness Association, Raging Grannies, Chinook Watershed Crew, Protect Alberta’s Rockies and Headwaters, and Alberta Fresh Water Alliance.
According to Williams, as many as 150 people attended, coming from across central and southern Alberta.
“Some came down from west-central Alberta because of their concerns over hundreds of thousands of active coal leases secretly sold off in 2020,” he said. “So the urgent problem is not just near the Crowsnest Pass but all along the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies.”
Protesters raised alarms about environmental risks, including selenium contamination in nearby waterways, coal dust, habitat loss, and the legacy of past mining activity on Grassy Mountain.
While Northback’s current approval is limited to exploratory drilling, opponents see it as a step toward full mining operations, and say even this early phase will have environmental consequences.
“Everyone I know of believes this is not a benign exploration,” Williams said.
While the immediate impact may be less severe than full-scale mining, he said legacy pollution from previous operations remains unresolved.
“Previous coal operations were not cleaned up on Grassy Mountain, and there have been studies revealing selenium pollution levels above the allowable limits in the drainages from Grassy Mountain,” he said.
The protest also brought attention to broader concerns about land use in the Eastern Slopes region, with calls for long-term planning and a more inclusive approach to stewardship that respects Indigenous ties to the land.
“In the Blackfoot tradition, these mountains are regarded as sacred — the backbone of the world,” said Williams. “And so it’s not only coal that threatens the balance of life here, but clear-cut logging.”
He said Indigenous connections to the land are often overlooked in industrial decision-making and that continued exploitation undermines the spirit of reconciliation.
Despite efforts to engage with elected officials, Williams said most advocacy groups receive generic responses.
While the protest was largely peaceful, Williams noted that not everyone in town supported the message.
“We did get some blowback from passing coal supporters,” he said. “Quite a few diesel trucks accelerated aggressively from the stoplight so that those elderly people who stood near the intersection were repeatedly enveloped in clouds of black smoke.”
But Williams emphasized that support far outweighed hostility.
“The overwhelming majority of passersby were in support,” he said. “It was very uplifting for the protesters’ morale.”
Monday’s demonstration “was the tip of the iceberg” in response to the AER decision, Williams said. “There will be more, no doubt about it.”
Earlier in the week, Chris Spearman, spokesman for the Water for Food group, called the approval deeply disappointing and said it undermines the findings of a 2021 joint federal-provincial review panel that rejected the Grassy Mountain mine proposal.
“While the Water For Food group is disappointed, we are not surprised,” Spearman said.
He blamed the Alberta government for bending to industry pressure after the courts upheld the panel’s ruling.
“Northback and their owners, Riversdale, challenged the joint panel decision in court and lost,” he said. “Then they lobbied the government, so the government changed the decision.”
He pointed to the Alberta government’s own science research papers as evidence that coal mines consistently contaminate rivers with excess selenium and wind-blown coal dust.
Spearman also challenged the company’s claims about new technology to mitigate such contamination.
“There is no proven technology anywhere,” he said. “When you question what technology they will use, they refuse to answer — so it just looks very dishonest.”
Spearman also questioned the economic rationale behind the project, warning of broader harm to agriculture in the region.
“The 400 coal mining jobs created are minimal and pale in comparison to the 40,000 jobs in the agrifood economy of southwest Alberta that will be put at risk,” he said.
The AER has approved three applications from Northback: a coal exploration program, a deep drilling permit and a temporary diversion licence.
Somya Lohia,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Shootin’ the Breeze
