Local Perceptions of Benefits, Risks, and Decision-Making around the Grassy Mountain Coal Project

The Grassy Mountain Coal Project just north of Blairmore, Alberta, generates major debates across the province due to the perceived provincial and local economic benefits that might accrue if the project was eventually approved to mine and export metallurgical coal, against the risks posed by open pit coal mining within the Oldman River watershed, regional pastureland, and traditional territory of Treaty 7 First Nations.

After a brief look at Canada's relative status as a "met coal" exporter, the presentation will shift to an overview of the policy and political context that allowed speculative, often foreign, investment in coal projects in the 2010s to become a major public policy controversy in Alberta among Grassy Mountain project promoters, governments at all levels, First Nations, and local residents. The presentation will then draw on in-depth interviews with residents and other affected people across southern Alberta to explore how local people perceive the opportunities and risks of the project. Moving beyond yes-or-no measures of support, it examines the positions, concerns, and uncertainties expressed by local communities, including trust and transparency, environmental risks, expected economic benefits, and competing ideas of community and identity.