This report looks at the promised economic benefits of coal mining projects in northeastern British Columbia and concludes that the jobs, tax revenues and production activity estimates are wildly overstated, while pledges to protect vulnerable wildlife species have not been met.
The woodland caribou—a distinct population called Central Mountain caribou located in the same region as the three coal mines this research examines—are listed under Canada’s endangered species legislation, the Species at Risk Act. While there are numerous provincial and federal legislative and regulatory instruments designed to protect them, the impacts of resource extraction, including coal mining, continue to threaten the species’ existence.
In order to have resource projects approved, and to receive the necessary project permits, resource companies promise regulators they will mitigate the environmental impacts of their projects. They position those impacts as necessary trade-offs required in order to realize promised economic returns.
For this report, the researchers looked at publicly available financial information to measure the actual financial and economic impacts of the Willow Creek, Brule and Wolverine coal mines in N.E. BC over the last two decades to see if the promised benefits materialized. They found that the financial and economic benefits from coal mines in northeastern British Columbia were not realized at levels close to what was promised, while habitat destruction of this endangered species has continued. The report’s findings have implications for natural resource management across Canada.
This report is part of the Corporate Mapping Project, which is jointly led by the University of Victoria, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (BC & Saskatchewan offices) and the Parkland Institute. This research was supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
About the authors
Robyn Allan
Robyn Allan is an independent economist. She has held many executive positions in the private and public sectors including President and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. She was an expert intervenor at the Trans Mountain Expansion Project hearing and an expert witness on behalf of the Alberta Federation of Labour at the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project hearing. Robyn is also the author of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs’ Toward Financial Responsibility in British Columbia’s Mining Industry.
Peter Bode
Peter Bode is a finance professional with over seven years proven track record in both large public companies and fast paced mid-sized private environments. His area of expertise includes financial analysis and reporting, corporate governance and business process improvement.
Rosemary Collard
Rosemary Collard is a human geographer and political ecologist whose research aims to develop political economic explanations for defaunation and extinction. She currently researches the political economy of extraction in endangered species habitat in Canada. She is an assistant professor in geography at Simon Fraser University.
Jessica Dempsey
Jessica Dempsey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia and a collaborator with the Corporate Mapping Project.