https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/
Alberta government lifted ban on coal exploration in Eastern Slopes in late January
The reeve of a southwestern ranching community says the municipal district has cancelled its appeal of exploration applications tied to the Grassy Mountain site in southwestern Alberta. Ron Davis, reeve of the M.D. of Ranchland, said recent rule changes from the provincial government have upended the district’s arguments tied to its Alberta Court of Appeal case.
“Given that the government has changed the rules, our case didn’t seem like it had as much impact as we would like,” Davis said. In August 2024, Alberta’s top court allowed Ranchland’s appeal, with Justice Kevin Feth writing he found that “a serious, arguable issue [was] established” after the provincial energy regulator accepted applications from Northback Holdings, the company behind the Grassy Mountain mine project.
But in January, the Alberta government lifted a ban on coal exploration in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains, a move the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) said would allow suspended projects to resume. Ranchland’s case had been based on the idea that new exploration applications from Northback should have been subject to a moratorium issued in 2022, said Nigel Bankes, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Calgary.
For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/grassy-mountain-northback-aer-alberta-energy-regulator-1.7451480