1976 Coal Policy and the Alberta Coal Policy Committee Report – Where do we go from here?

By: Richard Harrison, Wilson Laycraft
Originally published March 8, 2022

Background

The much anticipated Coal Policy Committee Report was released today.

The report is a review of the 1976 Coal Policy officially called ‘A Coal Development Policy for Alberta’. The most enduring aspect of the 1976 Coal Policy was the creation of four land categories in Alberta’s Eastern Slopes.

Categories 1 and 2 restricted development and were considered in the 1976 policy to be the most sensitive lands in the Eastern Slopes; categories 3 and 4, meanwhile, were open to development. A map of the categories was attached to the 1976 Coal Policy.

The 1976 Coal Policy was rescinded by the Government of Alberta on the Friday of the May long weekend in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. It took some time, but public attention eventually caught up to the government’s decision after an article was published by Bill Weber on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2020.

Energy Minister Sonya Savage responded to the public attention by striking a committee to examine the 1976 Coal Policy and placing moratoriums on exploration and development.

This blog post will examine the key recommendation from the Coal Policy Committee Report: that the Government of Alberta should commit to creating Alberta Land Stewardship Act (“ALSA”) regional plans and that those regional plans should spell out where coal development can take place in the Eastern Slopes.

What is ALSA?

ALSA allows the Government of Alberta to adopt regional plans. Alberta has 7 regional planning districts, but only 2 regional plans—the Lower Athabasca Region, around Fort McMurray in the Northeastern corner of the province and the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan in the southern 1⁄4 of the province.

Regional plans are designed to “enable sustainable development”, “provide for the co-ordination of decisions by decision-makers” and “to provide for a means to plan for the future”. Development in Alberta is required to be consistent with ALSA regional plans: section 618.3 of the Municipal Government Act. In fact, regional plans are generally seen as the pinnacle of development policy in Alberta:

• Section 17(4) of ALSA provides that ALSA prevails over any “conflict or inconsistency” with “any other enactment”;

• Section 13(1) of ALSA provides that “A regional plan is an expression of the public policy of the Government”; and

• Section 13(2) of ALSA provides that “Regional plans are legislative instruments and, for the purposes of any other enactment, are considered to be regulations”.

What Could the Committee’s Recommendation Mean for Albertans?

The committee’s primary recommendation to the Government of Alberta was to get working on regional plans. Regional plans were referenced 64 times in the committee’s 45-page report. The committee’s first recommendation was the following:

Considerations of these areas lead the committee to conclude that a strategic goal of modernized coal policy should be to have decisions related to potential coal developments guided by regional and subregional plans under the Alberta Land Stewardship Act (ALSA). The committee notes that ALSA employs certain principles related to cumulative effects as a basis for the development of regional or subregional plans that may supersede the coal categories.

Accordingly, the committee believes that regional or subregional land use plans must first be completed before any major coal project approvals are considered. Moreover, land use for the development of coal resources should be determined by those regional and subregional plans.

The committee’s recommendation is especially pertinent as the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan is set to expire in 2024.

The committee’s recommendation to develop regional plans goes far beyond coal development. Below are some of the impacts that everyday Albertans could see by a renewed effort to adopt regional plans.

a) More Consultation Over Development

Regional plans can only be adopted after the Government of Alberta completes consultation with Albertans. Although the extent of consultation is not defined in ALSA, the consultation required to adopt the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan was extensive and may serve as a precedent for future consultation. Consultation is always a positive. It gives Albertans direct access to their government on issues important to them.

b) Better Environmental Management and Stewardship

The environment is key to regional planning.

Half the stated purposes of ALSA focus on environmental considerations. The environmental goals set out in the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan are meritorious. Although they are largely aspirational, I frequently use them to argue for or against development. Boards and tribunals are often required to consider regional plans when deciding whether to approve a development. Municipalities are also required to consider regional plans when adopting land use bylaws.

The South Saskatchewan Regional Plan contains policy statements on air (pages 53 – 56), biodiversity and ecosystems (pages 56 – 77), water (pages 77 – 89), efficient use of land (89 – 91) and outdoor recreation and historic resources (pages 91 – 101). Much of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan is dedicated to setting standards for development that are consistent with goals surrounding environmental stewardship.

c) Less Piecemeal Development

One tremendous benefit of regional planning is that goals are established over entire swaths of the Province. When decisions are made over development, communities are not considered in isolation. A key recommendation from the Coal Policy Committee was to consider cumulative effects. Considering cumulative effects was a basis for the committee’s recommendation to perform better regional planning. Further, cumulative effects were the associated observation #1 released by the committee.

Long term regional planning is essential for considering cumulative effects of development on our landscapes.

Overall View on ALSA

Overall, the coal policy committee struck at the core of why the Government of Alberta should adopt regional plans. They provide certainty. They provide long term planning. They provide for cumulative effect consideration.

My hope is that this will spur the Government of Alberta to adopt more regional plans rather than ignoring ALSA or trying to limit its impact.

Final Thoughts on the Committee’s Report

Reading between the lines, one can tell that the committee’s tacit recommendation was that coal development not proceed in the Eastern Slopes. For example:

1.5 For Category 3 and 4 lands of the Eastern Slopes, all authorizations and dispositions for coal exploration and development issued after May 1, 2020, which do not pertain to an already active coal mine or advanced coal project should be paused until specific regional or subregional plans have been completed.

1.6 Consideration should be given to revoking coal leases in the Eastern Slopes that were issued after the 1976 Coal Policy was rescinded. Further, in recommending the adoption of more regional plans, the committee is providing a strong statutory mechanism for opponents to argue that mining should not proceed.

In my opinion, both recommendations have serious merit and I am hopeful that the Government of Alberta will pay attention to them.