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Exploiting Reconciliation? Alberta’s Coal Revival – by Melinda Meng (Harvard International Review – August 8, 2022)

https://hir.harvard.edu/

Reconciliation is a word most Canadians are probably quite familiar with by now. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established in 2007 as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and active through 2015, was one of the first initiatives that brought reconciliation to the forefront of Canadian politics.

The TRC defined reconciliation as a process “about establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in this country,” with the term Aboriginal designating the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis officially recognized as Indigenous to Canada.

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How Coal Mining and Years of Neglect Left Kentucky Towns at the Mercy of Flooding – by Rick Rojas, Christopher Flavelle and Campbell Robertson (New York Times – August 4, 2022)

https://www.nytimes.com/

FLEMING-NEON, Ky. — This sliver of land wedged between the thick woods and Wright Fork creek has been the home of Gary Moore’s family for as long as there has been a United States. The burial plot for an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War, he said, is a mile away. Mr. Moore himself lives in a mobile home across from his father’s house; the house where his grandmother lived is next door.

All of that was wrecked in last week’s flooding. “This is kind of like the final straw,” Mr. Moore, 50, said as he looked out at a new terrain of shredded homes, crushed cars and endless debris. “We’re gradually losing it — that bond we had. It’s slipping away. People are getting out of here, trying to get better jobs and live better lives. I’m leaning in that direction myself.”

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Efforts intensify to reach trapped coal miners in Mexico (Associated Press/CTV News – August 4, 2022)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

MEXICO CITY – Efforts to rescue 10 miners trapped in a collapsed and flooded coal mine in northern Mexico intensified Thursday with hundreds of people involved in the operation, authorities said.

The collapse occurred after the miners breached a neighbouring area filled with water on Wednesday, officials said. Authorities had not reported any contact with the trapped miners since the collapse.

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Glencore Is Cashing In on Coal to Dodge Big Mining’s Slowdown – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – August 2, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The world’s biggest miners have spent the past two weeks reporting lower profits, shrinking dividends and a worsening outlook as the year rolls on. Next up: Glencore Plc looks set to buck the trend.

While commodities like iron ore and copper have retreated as gloom settles over the global economy, Glencore is enjoying two key advantages over its mining rivals — a powerful trading business that thrives in volatile markets, and a suite of coal mines now churning out previously unimaginable earnings thanks to the global energy crunch.

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Federal funding now available to 20 states & Navajo Nation for abandoned mine clean up – by Shondiin Silversmith (Tucson Sentinel- July 22, 2022)

https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/

More than 20 states and the Navajo Nation can now apply for $725 million in funding for abandoned mine lands projects to help communities that have suffered environmental hazards and pollution caused by coal mining.

“Through this program, we are investing in coal communities through job creation — including for current and former coal workers — and economic revitalization, all while addressing harmful environmental impacts from these legacy developments,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a press release.

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Return to coal or reinvent itself? The simmering feud over an Alberta mining town’s future – by Kyler Zeleny (Globe and Mail – July 24, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Crowsnest Pass has not had an operational coal mine for 40 years. Now the struggling community is divided over whether to embrace the resource to save itself

For decades, John Kinnear and his family proudly mined coal from the towering mountains that form the border between Alberta and British Columbia. As a local historian in the nearby community of Crowsnest Pass, he has seen the bounty that coal brought for generations of families.

But he also knows how the country – and world – has soured on the dusty black commodity buried deep within the Rockies, and he has come to understand that point of view. Recently, when he visited Line Creek, a Teck Resources coal mine to the community’s west, he was struck by the desolation left in its wake.

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Ten financial actors own half of the world’s oil, gas, coal emissions – study – by Staff (Mining.com – July 24, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Ten financial actors with the most influence on the fossil fuel economy own 49.5% of potential emissions from the world’s largest energy firms, a recent study has found.

In a paper published in the journal Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, researchers from Canada, France and New Zealand take a deep look into the CU200, which are the 200 Carbon Underground firms that own 98% of global fossil reserves in the form of oil, gas, or coal.

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Sukunka coal mine faces tough environmental questions – by Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver – July 19, 2022)

https://biv.com/

Glencore’s proposed metallurgical coal mine advances to public comment period

It has been nearly a decade since the Sukunka metallurgical coal mine proposal near Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge was first pitched to the BC Environmental Assessment Office. The project, estimated to cost $450 million to build, is still in play, and the project will soon enter a final review by the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO).

The clock has been stopped on the review several times to allow the company to respond to numerous questions and concerns raised about environmental impacts – from impacts on fish to greenhouse gas emissions and impacts on caribou habitat.

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As Europe bakes, Germany reckons with a return to coal – by Kamyar Razavi (Global News – July 19, 2022)

https://globalnews.ca/

Europe is scorching. Temperatures across parts of the continent are soaring to dangerous highs again on Tuesday. The high for London will be close to 40 degrees. Berlin will hit 35.

Amid what’s been an intense, dangerous heat wave, there are difficult conversations happening across Europe about the future of energy, and how to prevent even more damage to the planet by burning fossil fuels.

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Glencore Expands Coal Mining in an Australian Methane Hotspot – by Aaron Clark (Bloomberg News – July 13, 2022)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Glencore Plc is expanding a coal mine that scientists have estimated leaks so much planet-wrecking methane each year it has the same warming impact as the annual emissions from millions of cars.

New activity at the Hail Creek Mine involves digging up coal from gas-rich seams through surface mining — an approach for which the company has said there’s no reliable way to halt fugitive methane from escaping during operation.

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Company launches $3.4-billion lawsuit against province over coal mining ban – by Kevin Martin (Calgary Herald – July 4, 2022)

https://calgaryherald.com/

The Alberta government is facing a more than $3.4-billion lawsuit over its decision to end all new coal-related exploration on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Calgary-based Cabin Ridge Project Ltd. and its parent company, Cabin Ridge Holdings Ltd., say the decision in March amounted to an effective expropriation of “their freehold mineral rights and coal leases.”

“Cabin Ridge and CRHL acquired the Cabin Ridge Property and additional property interests (including a pipeline and right of way leading to a railway) … for the purpose of developing one of the world’s leading metallurgical (steel-making) coal projects,” a statement of claim filed in Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench says.

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In energy-strapped Europe, coal gets a Greek encore – by Derek Gatopoulos (Associated Press/Toronto Star – June 25, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

KOZANI, Greece (AP) — At Greece’s largest coal mine, controlled explosions and the roar of giant excavators scooping up blasted rock have once again become routine. Coal production has been ramped up at the site near the northern Greek city of Kozani as the war in Ukraine forced many European nations to rethink their energy supplies.

Coal, long treated as a legacy fuel in Europe, is now helping the continent safeguard its power supply and cope with the dramatic rise in natural gas prices caused by the war.

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Europe turns back to coal as Russia cuts gas supplies – by ELENA SÁNCHEZ NICOLÁS (Euobserver.com – June 21, 2022)

https://euobserver.com/

With Russia reducing natural gas supplies to Europe, several EU countries are considering burning further carbon-intensive coal to secure energy supplies for next winter. Germany and Austria this weekend announced emergency measures to cope with lower Russian gas flows, including the potential use of coal-fired power plants to produce energy.

The move comes after weeks of gas-supply cuts and reduced flows to Europe, which has prompted EU governments to seek alternative supplies and build up reserves. Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom has turned off supplies to several EU countries for refusing to pay for gas in roubles — including Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, and the Netherlands.

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Glencore Gets Rich on Coal, But Questions Persist Over Exit Plan – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – June 14, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Glencore Plc is getting rich on coal. The company is on course for another year of bumper profits, its shares just hit a record high — a feat that looked unlikely for most of the last decade — and investors are set for a windfall of returns. But some of them are now asking exactly how it’s all going to end.

For years the commodities giant has sought to balance two competing aims: securing the huge potential returns from its coal business and keeping investor support for mining the world’s most polluting fuel.

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U.S. wants Canada to join investigation of cross-border pollution from B.C. coal mines – by Bob Weber (CBC News British Columbia/Canadian Press – June 15, 2022)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

The United States government, including President Joe Biden’s White House, has joined calls for Canada to participate in a probe of cross-border pollution coming from coal mines in southern British Columbia.

In a statement released last week, the U.S. State Department said Biden supports a joint investigation of selenium coming from Teck Resources’ Elk Valley coal mines, which flows into rivers and lakes south of the border.

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