Share As backlash erupted last year in response to the Alberta government s plans to open up large swaths of the Rocky Mountain region to metallurgical coal mines, alternative plans were already afoot in the global steel-making industry. Companies have introduced technologies that could eliminate their centuries-old reliance on metallurgical coal, including plans to be entirely free of fossil fuels in just over 20 years. Photo: Shutterstock
“We’re going down to zero.”
That’s what Thomas Hörnfeldt, vice president of sustainable business at the Swedish-based steel-maker SSAB, told The Narwhal of his company’s carbon emissions.
Hörnfeldt spoke to me on a video call from his office in Stockholm, a virtual backdrop of a picturesque Swedish canal flickering behind his office chair. He proudly displays a small piece of what he described as SSAB’s first fossil-fuel-free steel on his desk.
Share New regulations are in the works for Canada s coal mines, but experts are concerned they won’t be strong enough to address the legacy of pollution from more than a century of coal mining in B.C. s Elk Valley. Photo: Callum Gunn
Teck Coal was ordered to pay a record $60 million fine this year for polluting waterways in the Elk Valley, but despite the penalty, contaminants continue to leach from piles of waste rock at the company’s mines and the clock is ticking on new federal regulations that observers say are long overdue.
“Leadership is desperately needed in this watershed from the Canadian federal government,” said Erin Sexton, a University of Montana biologist.
Share Coal is a big industry in B.C. and it is on the verge of getting even bigger with the proposal of five coal mines along the Rocky Mountains. Photo: Callum Gunn
Explainer
Coal mining is big business in the B.C. Rockies. It could get bigger if these projects are approved
Four proposed projects are undergoing environmental review in the Kootenay Rockies, where open-pit coal mining is tied to longstanding pollution concerns 11 min read
In the face of widespread public backlash, the Alberta government agreed to rethink its plan to open parts of the Rocky Mountains and foothills to open-pit coal mining but it’s a different story just across the provincial border, where an already massive industry could get bigger.
Share According to the Alberta government, mines like this one in the southwestern corner of the province wouldn’t be classified as mountaintop-removal mines because they don t “completely” remove the top of the mountain. Photo: Callum Gunn
In-Depth
Here’s why Alberta’s ban on mountaintop-removal mining won’t affect proposed coal mines in the Rockies
When the government said it would put an ‘outright ban on mountaintop mining,’ many Albertans rejoiced. But Alberta’s energy regulator says that only applies if the top of a mountain is ‘completely’ removed 13 min read
Alberta’s new ban on “mountaintop-removal” coal mining has very limited, if any, applications in reality, The Narwhal has learned. According to a spokesperson for the Alberta government, the definition of the term is extremely narrow and does not apply unless the top of a mountain is “completely” removed.
Share Alberta reversed course on its plans to allow for surface coal mining in the eastern slopes of the Rockies earlier this week, but that doesn t mean the region won t face any pressure from coal developments. Photo: Shutterstock
Explainer
9 things that haven’t changed since Alberta’s about-face on coal mining policy
The United Conservative Party was backed into a corner on its decision to open up the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains to open-pit mines. But it hasn t completely abandoned its push to allow more coal projects in the province 9 min read
let’s-see-if-we-can-slip-this-one-past-them coal policy change last May.