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Victory! So Long, Thermal Coal

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In Energy
Jun 12th, 2021
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By Devon Page, Executive director of Ecojustice

The federal government has just sounded a death knell for thermal coal mining in Canada. 

On the morning of June 11, federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson announced all new thermal coal mine projects and existing mine expansions will be required to undergo a federal impact assessment.

To pass an assessment, coal mining companies would have to demonstrate how a proposed project’s benefits will outweigh its environmental harms — something nearly impossible to do given thermal coal’s massive carbon footprint as the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel.

Illustrating this, Minister Wilkinson also issued a notice to the proponents of the Vista coal mine expansion, saying that he considers the project to have unacceptable effects on the environment and that it cannot be in the public interest.

This indicates that the Vista project is unlikely to ever obtain the federal approval it needs to proceed.

This is a BIG victory for the environment, Canada’s climate movement, and the thousands of Canadians who mobilized last year to successfully persuade the federal government to order an impact assessment for the Vista project. 

Celebrate with us by making a special gift to Ecojustice today. 

While today’s news effectively signals the end of new thermal coal mines in Canada, we’re not done with thermal coal quite yet. Canada still exports millions of tonnes of thermal coal overseas every year. A lot of that coal comes from American coal mines that rely on shuttling coal through Canadian ports to reach oversea markets.

The bottom line is that the emissions from this exported coal still hurts our shared climate. Once they are in the atmosphere, these climate emergency-fuelling emissions do not respect borders.

The Ecojustice team will spend the next few days unpacking the Minister’s announcements to determine what implications they will have for our fight for a thermal coal-free future.

Now, with this wind in our sails, I’m more hopeful than ever that a ban on thermal coal mining and exports is within reach.

Ecojustice is Canada’s largest environmental law charity. Help us build the case for a better earth. Donate here.

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