Alberta’s Eastern Slopes Protection Act would remove Category 1 and Category 2 coal from disposition permanently and prevent the Alberta Energy Regulator from enabling coal activity in those zones. Category 3 and Category 4 coal would also remain unavailable unless an enhanced regional plan is made and remains in effect.
The bill reaches beyond future approvals. It would cancel many existing coal leases and approvals immediately, preserve only limited exceptions for actively operating mines and processing plants, and block most court claims arising from those cancellations.
It would also impose detailed consultation, water-protection, cumulative-effects and subregional-planning requirements before development could proceed in the conditional zones.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill classifies Eastern Slopes coal using the provincial coal classification map. It permanently prohibits coal activity in Category 1 and 2 areas, and suspends disposition and development in Category 3 and 4 areas until enhanced regional planning requirements are met.
Who It Affects
Coal lease holders, mine and processing-plant operators, prospective developers and the Alberta Energy Regulator face the most direct consequences. Indigenous governments and peoples, municipalities, ranchers, farmers, tourism and recreation operators, and users of Eastern Slopes waters would participate in the required planning process or experience its results.
Why It Matters
The bill would convert a policy and regulatory debate into statutory land-use restrictions that prevail over conflicting legislation. It also combines environmental protection with immediate property and approval cancellations, while limiting litigation over those cancellations but preserving a compensation application route under the Mines and Minerals Act.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The Act uses Map 2 of the 2017 Eastern Slopes coal classification map as its controlling geographic reference. It defines four coal categories and applies different rules to each.
Category 1 and 2 deposits would be permanently withdrawn from disposition under the Mines and Minerals Act. The Regulator could not use any statutory power or function to enable coal exploration, development or mining in those areas, whether directly or indirectly.
Category 3 and 4 deposits would be withdrawn from disposition until an enhanced regional plan applies to the relevant lands. The plan must identify protected or conserved areas and areas where coal activity may be permitted.
It must also establish land-use, linear-disturbance, coal-activity and water-allocation rules, together with measurable cumulative-effects indicators, limits and triggers for water, land and air.The planning process carries unusually specific participation requirements. It must include at least six months of enhanced consultation with Indigenous governments and peoples, along with at least six months of consultation with Eastern Slopes residents, Albertans, municipalities and affected economic sectors.
The process must address translation for Indigenous elders and communities, and may include traditional ecological knowledge where consent is granted. An expert advisory panel must advise on environmental regulation and monitoring.The Act also requires the Lieutenant Governor in Council to create subregional plans within 12 months after a regional plan is made.
Those plans must address reasonable linear-disturbance limits and satisfy the regional-plan requirements with necessary modifications. Transitional provisions then determine which existing leases and approvals survive, while section 9 removes most court-based remedies for cancellations but leaves an application for compensation under the Mines and Minerals Act intact.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Category 1 and Category 2 coal would be withdrawn from disposition permanently, regardless of other provisions in the Mines and Minerals Act.
Category 3 and Category 4 coal could not proceed until an enhanced regional plan has been made and remains in effect for the relevant lands.
Regional plans would need measurable cumulative-effects indicators, limits and triggers covering water, land and air, as well as rules for water use and allocations.
A Category 1 or 2 lease would generally be cancelled unless its holder operates an approved coal mine or processing plant on the leased property. Category 3 or 4 leases receive that exception only if the lease predates May 1, 2020.
The bill bars damages, injunctions and other court relief arising from lease or approval cancellations, but expressly preserves the ability to seek compensation under the Mines and Minerals Act.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Definitions, purposes and priority over conflicting laws
These sections establish the Act’s vocabulary and geographic scope, tying the four coal categories to the Eastern Slopes coal classification map and defining coal activity by reference to activities requiring approval. The stated purposes combine watershed and habitat protection with ecological, cultural, recreational, tourism and agricultural values, including irrigation and agricultural processing.
Section 3 gives the Act priority over inconsistent provisions of another enactment. That clause is significant because the bill operates across the Mines and Minerals Act, the Coal Conservation Act, the Responsible Energy Development Act and the Alberta Land Stewardship Act rather than relying on a single regulatory amendment.
Permanent prohibition for Category 1 and 2 coal
The Act withdraws all Category 1 and 2 coal from disposition when it comes into force. The Regulator and anyone acting for it must not exercise a statutory power, duty or function if doing so would enable coal exploration, development or mining in those mapped areas.
The restriction is framed broadly: it covers indirect regulatory enablement as well as a direct approval. That language is designed to prevent the prohibition from being bypassed through a different approval or regulatory pathway.
Conditional development rules and enhanced regional plans
Category 3 and 4 coal remains withdrawn from disposition until an enhanced regional plan is made and remains effective for the relevant lands. The plan must designate protected or conserved areas and potential coal-development areas, set rules for land disturbance and water, and create a cumulative-effects framework with specific indicators, limits and triggers.
The planning process must include at least six months of consultation with Indigenous governments and peoples and at least six months of consultation with residents, municipalities, agricultural interests, tourism and recreation businesses and other affected sectors. It also requires translation services, possible use of traditional ecological knowledge with consent, and an expert advisory panel. Within 12 months after a regional plan is made, the Lieutenant Governor in Council must establish subregions based on reasonable linear-disturbance limits and make corresponding subregional plans.
Cancellation of existing coal leases
Existing Category 1 and 2 leases would be cancelled when the Act comes into force unless the holder has a valid approval for an actively operating coal mine or processing plant on the leased property. Category 3 and 4 leases receive the same operating-facility exception, but only if the lease was issued before May 1, 2020.
The provision therefore distinguishes between active operations and development rights that have not yet produced an operating mine or plant. A lease can survive the immediate cancellation rule only through both the applicable category conditions and the operating-facility exception.
Cancellation of existing approvals
Approvals relating to coal in any of the four categories would be cancelled on the Act’s commencement unless the approval covers a coal mine or processing plant that is actively operating. Unlike the Category 3 and 4 lease rule, this section does not include a pre-May 1, 2020 issuance-date exception.
The result is that an approval associated with exploration, construction or another non-operating phase would not receive the protection given to an actively operating facility.
Remedies and preserved compensation route
A lease or approval cancellation does not create a cause of action or allow a person to seek damages, declarations, injunctions or other legal or equitable relief from a court. The section also states that courts lack jurisdiction to grant relief connected to the cancellation.
At the same time, the bill expressly preserves a right under the Mines and Minerals Act to apply for, or receive, compensation related to a cancelled coal lease. The text draws a sharp line between preserving a potential statutory compensation process and eliminating ordinary court remedies based on the cancellation itself.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Communities and water users in the Oldman River watershed and other Eastern Slopes watersheds, who would receive statutory protection against coal activity in the most restricted categories and stronger planning requirements elsewhere.
- Ranchers, farmers and agricultural processors that depend on reliable water supplies and land conditions, because regional plans must address water allocations, linear disturbance and cumulative effects.
- Tourism, recreation and outdoor businesses whose operations depend on Eastern Slopes landscapes, access and ecological conditions, because the planning process must specifically consult affected tourism and recreational sectors.
- Indigenous governments, peoples and knowledge holders, who receive a defined consultation period, translation support and an opportunity to contribute traditional ecological knowledge with consent.
- Existing operators of actively operating coal mines or processing plants, who fall within the principal exceptions to immediate lease and approval cancellation.
Who Bears the Cost
- Coal lease holders in Category 1 and 2 areas, whose leases would generally be cancelled unless tied to an actively operating approved mine or processing plant.
- Category 3 and 4 lease holders issued leases on or after May 1, 2020, who would lose leases unless they meet the active-operation exception.
- Coal developers and approval holders with projects that have not reached active operation, because the bill cancels relevant approvals and blocks new activity until the applicable planning conditions are satisfied.
- The Alberta Energy Regulator, which would need to screen its powers and functions against categorical statutory prohibitions and could not enable activity indirectly in restricted areas.
- The Alberta government, municipalities and participating communities, which would bear the administrative cost of extended consultation, expert review, regional planning and subregional planning without a dedicated funding mechanism in the bill.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill seeks to prevent irreversible watershed and landscape damage while preserving a possible pathway for development in Category 3 and 4 areas. Permanent exclusions provide certainty for protection, but immediate cancellations can disrupt leases and approvals before the government has established the detailed compensation and regional-planning framework that will determine how affected interests are treated.
The bill’s strongest legal and practical effect is immediate cancellation, not merely tighter future regulation. The exceptions protect operating facilities but do not clearly address projects at intermediate stages, such as construction, reclamation, infrastructure installation or facilities operating under a different approval structure.
That creates a potentially consequential boundary between an active operation and a project with substantial sunk investment.
Section 9 attempts to prevent cancellation litigation while preserving compensation applications under the Mines and Minerals Act. The bill does not specify the amount, eligibility rules or process for compensation, so the economic exposure may shift from ordinary judicial remedies to a statutory compensation regime whose scope is not defined here.
The Act also prevails over conflicting enactments, raising implementation questions about how its prohibitions interact with existing regulatory decisions and land-use instruments.
The conditional Category 3 and 4 regime depends on regional plans that must satisfy a demanding mix of environmental, Indigenous, economic and consultation requirements. That structure can produce more informed land-use decisions, but it also leaves the timing and geographic availability of future coal activity dependent on plans that must later be supplemented by subregional plans.
The bill gives the plans substantial practical importance without specifying a deadline for the initial regional plan itself.
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