Benga Mining

An Alberta ranching community is fighting a planned hearing on proposed coal exploration in the Rocky Mountains, saying the province's arm's-length energy regulator shouldn't have heeded a letter from its energy minister suggesting an application from Northback Holdings be accepted.

In his ruling, Judge Richard Southcott said the joint federal-provincial review panel that examined the Grassy Mountain proposal near Crowsnest Pass didn't live up to the consultation promises it made.

Coal mining on environmentally sensitive slopes of Alberta's Rocky Mountains wouldn't be an overall benefit to the province, a wide-ranging analysis from the University of Calgary has concluded.

The federal government says the proposed Grassy Mountain coal project in southwestern Alberta cannot proceed.

The company behind a proposed open-pit coal mine in Alberta's Rocky Mountains has filed a request to appeal a decision by a review panel that rejected the project as being not in the public interest.

In its 680-page report released Thursday, the joint federal-provincial panel questioned the ability of Benga Mining, owned by Riversdale Resources, to control the release of selenium from its proposed Grassy Mountain mine. 

One of North America's top experts on pollution from coal mines is warning Albertans about the dangers of expanding the industry in the province's Rocky Mountains.