Water Not Coal Op-ed by Corb Lund – 6th generation Albertan
Corb Lund Letter to the Editor:
Albertans are once again being told—this time by the President of the Coal Association of Canada—that coal companies have our best interests, our mountains, and our water at heart. We’re asked to trust that “new technology” will fix old problems, and that the minimal regulations these same companies have lobbied for will somehow keep the public safe. What’s left out is the true scale of the risks and who actually stands to benefit.
One of industry’s most repeated claims is that Alberta owes the world metallurgical coal for steelmaking. But according to the Global Energy Monitor, roughly half of all new steelmaking capacity being built today uses technologies that do not require metallurgical coal. As this transition accelerates, existing mines—not new ones carved into the headwaters that supply drinking water across the Prairies—are more than sufficient to meet remaining demand.
So when figures such as Robin Campbell, W. Brett Wilson, or Gina Rinehart advocate for new mines in the Rockies, many observers note that the argument isn’t about ensuring anyone can buy a new car or build a new bridge. It is about extracting the last possible profits before the global market moves on, even if that means damaging fragile landscapes, risking clean drinking water, and leaving communities with long‑term environmental liabilities in exchange for short‑term private gain.
Industry also insists that new mines will operate under tougher environmental standards. The reality is that Alberta has no enforceable provincial or federal limits on selenium or many other pollutants in coal mine runoff. Monitoring occurs, but enforcement does not. And once selenium enters a watershed, no technology can remove it completely.
Alberta government scientists have documented that waters downstream of both active and reclaimed mines routinely exceed safe selenium and other contaminant levels—sometimes by five to twenty‑five times. These impacts persist for decades. Even the most advanced treatment systems capture only 80 to 95 percent of selenium, but when toxicity thresholds are measured in micrograms, what remains is still enough to cause long‑term harm.
Claims that underground mining is “safer for water” are also unsupported. Underground mines disrupt groundwater, increase water‑rock contact, and require extensive dewatering and stream diversion. All coal mines, regardless of method, require clearing land, moving rock, creating waste piles, and using significant volumes of water drawn from already over‑allocated rivers.
CST Coal’s underground mine near Grande Cache illustrates the risks. In 2023, it released more than a million litres of contaminated wastewater into the Smoky River. The fine was $9,000—far too small to act as a deterrent.
Oversight is not arms‑length. Mine 14, owned by Australian company Valory Resources, avoided a public hearing after the company lobbied the CEO of the Alberta Energy Regulator to cancel it, preventing expert evidence about water risks from being heard.
Coal companies also claim they will guarantee full reclamation. But Alberta’s Mine Financial Security Program does not require companies to post the full cost of cleanup upfront. Independent audits, legal reviews, and the Alberta Auditor General have all concluded that the system exposes Albertans to significant unfunded liabilities.
Since Mr. Campbell served as Alberta’s Minister of Finance in 2015 before becoming president of the Coal Association of Canada, he will know how little Albertans receive in coal royalties. Alberta’s historical resource revenue data shows an average of just $17 million per year in coal royalties since 1970. By comparison, Alberta’s agricultural exports were valued at $17.3 billion in 2024—an industry that depends entirely on clean, reliable water.
Albertans are being asked to accept permanent environmental damage, long‑term public liability, and risks to water that cannot be engineered away, all to support an industry in structural decline that contributes little in royalties and is largely owned by foreign investors seeking to extract the last profits from public resources.
The risks are high, and these are promises we’ve heard before. The consequences, once they occur, cannot be reversed. In my view, this industry will say whatever it needs to in order to access our coal and sell it overseas, our water be damned. It’s a very old playbook.
It’s a bad deal that will leave Albertans with depleted, already over-allocated water resources, contamination, and a massive cleanup bill. It’s a gamble Albertans should refuse.
— Corb Lund, 6th-generation Albertan.
To learn more, please visit waternotcoal.ca
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