Conserving Our Special Places
Livingstone and Porcupine Hills
January 2025 Updates
Grassy Mountain Seeks New Exploration Permits
After Northback’s original application was turned down in 2021 by both the Province of Alberta and the Federal Government, they appealed the decision with claims that they were an active coal project, and applied again to the Alberta Energy Regulator for permission to drill exploratory wells on their property. The AER, on advice from the Minister of Energy, agreed to hear their proposal, and the AER has decided to go ahead with their hearing on the exploration permit.
Northback Holdings Limited (formerly Benga Mining) has applied to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) for approval to conduct a new coal exploration program, a deep drilling permit and a Water Act temporary diversion license. LLG is very concerned these applications are being considered given the provincial government’s committment last year that no new applications would be accepted for coal exploration or development on lands covered by the reinstated coal policy. LLG has filed a formal Statement of Concern with the AER.
Further to our earlier communications, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is holding a hearing regarding a controversial coal exploration application by Northback (previously known as Benga Mining) on Grassy Mountain. An open pit coal mine development application by the same company was denied in a previous joint federal/provincial hearing three years ago. LLG was heavily involved in that hearing.
The hearing has been divided into two separate sessions. As you are aware, the first session was held in Pincher Creek in early December.
The second session, titled FULL PARTICIPATION, has now been scheduled. The hearing will be held at the AER’s Govier Hall, located at 250, 5th Street SW, Calgary Alberta, starting at 9:00 a.m. on January 14, 2025, and is scheduled to conclude on January 16, 2025.
The hearing will be videocast at:
https://www.meetview.com/aer2025/(opens in new window).
Should members of the public choose to observe the hearing in-person they should be aware that they may be captured in the live stream video.
For your information, the live stream video of the hearing will not be recorded and will not be available for viewing later. The transcripts are the official record of the hearing and these will be posted on the AER’s website.
The Notice of Hearing and schedule can be found on the AER website at:
TransAlta partners with Montem Resources on Pumped Hydro project
February 16, 2023
TransAlta Corporation announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire a 50% interest in the Tent Mountain Renewable Energy Complex ), an early-stage 320 MW pumped hydro energy storage development project, located in southwest Alberta, currently owned by Montem Resources Limited. TransAlta and Montem will form a partnership and jointly manage the Project, with TransAlta acting as project developer. See here for announcement.