Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

Everyone living in Southern Alberta are familiar with our winds. Those residing in “Chinook Country” have heard Environment Canada’s frequent wind warnings, particularly between November to April. It would follow then, that Benga Mining Ltd (Riversdale) would, as part of their application, have completed comprehensive and accurate assessments of wind speed, dust particle size etc., as part of their Environmental Impact Assessment for their Grassy Mountain Open-Pit coal mining proposal. But have they? The speaker will argue Benga’s Environmental Impact Assessment contains flaws and inaccuracies in methodology and the time-frame of data collection. This resulted in underestimating the amount and movement of micro dust particles and the distance micro and larger dust particles would be carried by the winds, resulting in errors in the data of Environmental Impact Assessment submissions. Finally, the speaker will discuss the research on short and long-term health outcomes for people living in communities cl