Environmental Impact of Coal Mining in Canada

WRITING ASSIGNMENT 3: ANALYTIC PAPER (ANALYSIS/SYNTHESIS)
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All the activities carried out by human beings have an effect on the surrounding both as biotic
and non-biotic organisms. This is what we commonly referred to as Environmental issues. This
particular paper presents an argument regarding environmental impact by human activities. The
discussion will help understand the due effect of these environmental issues in Canada.it will
also highlight the controversy related to these environmental issues. Coal-mining in Canada has
caused a lot of environmental pollution resulting in contaminated water, a habitat for aquatic
animals like birds and fish. The coal-mining process has contaminated river Cardinal by
introducing nitrate and selenium chemicals into the water body. Residents along River Cardinal
use its water for drinking and growing medicinal plantations, they are therefore greatly affected
by the water pollution. These residents have requested the mining company to continue with the
mining process without affecting River Cardinal and Brazeau.
The Cheviot Coal Mine Project is operated by Elk Valley Coal Corporation's Cardinal
River Operations commonly referred to as CRO. It is located about the 250km west region of
Edmonton in Alberta. It is actually located in the Subalpine Natural Subregion of the Front
Range of the mountains which are rocky and at elevation value from 1650 to n1900m. The
mineral content is located at the surface boundary almost 3km east of the national park of Jasper.
After about 10 years of environmental assessment as well as extensive processes of regulation,
there was the issuance of approvals for the development of Cheviot Mining in the region.
The construction was started in the year 2004 and finally completed in the year 2005. In
order to address the conditions of the environment, the development incorporated several
programs of mitigation as well as strategies(Thompson 2016). This followed the plea from the
residents who entirely rely on water from river Cardinal for their domestic use. Some of the
strategies which were employed included attempts to avoid in-stream disturbance as well as the

quality impacts of water. There was the initiation of the programs concerning water management
to ensure control as well as containment of all the wastewater sources. The employment of these
mitigation measures has been to ensure that there is a reduction of ecological as well as species
impacts. Consequently, the mitigation programs of wildlife as well as traffic have been
developed and implemented to address the issue of incidents along the haul road of
operation(Piper & Green 2017).
As fate would have it, the expected success in the process has turned out to be an uphill
task for the company. Despite these developments, the construction of the haul road within the
valley needed temporary closure as well as expansion along the Cardinal River. This has become
the source of controversy. It is important to note that there was a requirement for the provision of
interim measures to allow stakeholders to pass through the main area of the construction. The
process of the construction occurred during the period intense litigation as well as the issue of the
litigation(Staff 2016).. The environmental conservation measures that have been put in place
seem not to be satisfactory to some of the environmental conservation groups(Miller et al.2013).
One of the key issues that have been considered controversial is the proposed expansion of the
Cardinal River Operations coal mine in Alberta.
Dumping of toxic chemicals in rivers has led to increased levels of nitrate and selenium
which affects the liver and kidney tissues, damage the various system and changes the color of
the nails and hair. Poor decisions which were made by Tech Company as they reflect was as a
result of lack of transparency in the data for treating the toxic materials. A lot of individual
research has been done to know the toxic chemicals present in particular selenium(O’Kane, et