A decision on a controversial Burnco gravel pit expansion was postponed by Rocky View County (RVC) council until sometime next year after dozens of local residents appeared before a public hearing on Dec. 3 to voice their concerns over health and safety issues they say have been ignored.
The application was for Burnco, which operates gravel extraction pits all across the County, to expand its Cochrane West operation by 305 acres. The Calgary-based company said it received all required Provincial approval to expand its operation along the Bow River west of Cochrane.
After hours of public discussion and presentations from concerned local residents who had expressed serious worry over the gravel pit’s effect on local water supplies and air pollution, with many presenters imploring council to deny Burnco’s request, council decided the best path forward would be to wait until the County’s Aggregate Resource Plan was finalized, or until Q3, 2025, whatever comes first.
Reeve Crystal Kissel said she had more questions than answers after the public hearing regarding the Burnco expansion and the Cochrane West pit’s extraction practices.
Almost all of the concerns expressed by the nearby residents that opposed the expansion were about health and safety.
Darryl Cornish, a resident whose property is 800 metres from the mine and who has 18 years of experience working as an engineer for Schlumberger, a well-known international reservoir measurement, analysis, and modelling company, stated that Burnco’s own Impact Assessments show there are several causes for concern.
Chief among Cornish’s concerns is the potential for heavy metal contamination into the Bow River from crushing rocks at the proposed mining site due to hydrological conductivity or leaching, from the pit into the nearby river.
“There's definitely the potential for water to flow through that heavily fractured bedrock into the river,” he said in a recent correspondence with the Rocky View Weekly. “It is my opinion that the environmental assessments provided by Burnco are wholly insufficient to justify the risk to the environment that the proposed gravel operations present, and the process that has led to this hearing is not balanced, fair, or appropriate for a decision of such magnitude."
Travis Coates, a Burnco representative who presented to council on behalf of the gravel company on Dec. 3, said that Burnco has received all the necessary environmental approvals to expand gravel extraction operations on site.
“Burnco believes environmental issues have been addressed,” Coates stated. “This is a mature project that is ready to move forward."
Coates added that Burnco is aware of just two formal complaints levelled against them to the County about dust and air pollution.
But many of the residents present at the hearing painted a much different picture. Ann McKendrick McNabb, another local resident presenting on behalf of a small contingent of neighbours, showed a picture of a bucket of water that she claimed contained hydrocarbons released from the pit’s extraction process. The water was nearly purple in colour.
“Who is responsible, who is accountable, and who is auditable?” McNabb asked the council. “We really believe it is your fiduciary responsibility to represent all owners. When we dealt with Burnco we requested a win-win … We need gravel, but we need to make sure it’s done responsibly and that it protects all land owners.”
“We have hydrocarbons [in the water],” she added. “Where did they come from? Did they come out of the air?”
McNabb ended her presentation by asking council to protect the residents' water.
Other residents, some with extensive and professional knowledge of environmental concerns also presented during the public hearing, but Burnco refuted the claims of hydrocarbons being released into the water via their extraction process.
“Burnco takes pride in working with our neighbours,” Coates said. “The idea that hydrocarbons have migrated upwell to the McNabb [property] is unsupported.”
Coates read aloud a letter from the Alberta Environment Ministry that said the government did not believe the hydrocarbons found in the water around the Cochrane West pit originated from the Burnco operation.
Indeed, the Ministry of Environment and Protected Areas Ministry (MEPA) said it was not aware of any negative environmental impacts stemming from the Burnco operation when the Rocky View Weekly reached out for comment on these concerns. But MEPA also stated it was within the sole discretion of Rocky View County to approve Burnco's application or not.
“This land-use decision is the responsibility of the local municipal authority,” said Ryan Fournier, the press secretary for Rebecca Schulz, Minister of the Environment and Protected Areas, in an emailed response. “We respect [RVC’s] right to consider and make these decisions … To date, Environment and Protected Areas is not aware of any evidence that this gravel operation is causing unintended adverse impacts on the Bow River.”
The public hearing ended with councillors split on what steps to take next. Kissel and Division 4 Coun. Samanntha Wright believed that there were more questions to be asked regarding the environmental impacts. Division 5 Coun. Greg Boehlke disagreed, saying he believed council had all the answers it needed to make a decision.
“I was really concerned about the hydrocarbons in the well,” Boehlke acknowledged. “(But) I’m convinced it doesn’t have anything to do with the gravel extraction."
The motion to hold off on approving a site expansion until the Aggregate Resource Plan is finalized passed by a vote of 4-3, with Kissel, Wright, Deputy Reeve and Division 2 Coun. Don Kochan, and Division 1 Coun. Kevin Hanson in support.
Boehlke, and Division 6 and 7 Councillors Sunny Samra and Al Schule voted against.
--With files from Tim Kalinowski/ Rocky View Weekly