9 December 2025

Protesters Push Back at Northback Presentation. Joe Manio, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lethbridge Herald.

… Outside the Coast Lethbridge Hotel around 100 demonstrators waved signs, beat drums and shouted slogans protesting the proposed Grassy Mountain Coal Project while inside the CEO of Northback Holdings, Mike Young, spoke about the economic benefits of the project during a Chamber of Commerce event there Monday.

… “The significant adverse environmental effects were greater than any uncertain economic benefit,” says organizer Cheryl Bradley, director of the Southern Alberta Group for Environment. “And the city of Lethbridge has 5 times since 2020 passed resolutions opposing a mine on Grassy Mountain because of the impacts on the Old Man River and a concern about contamination of our drinking water with selenium.”

The Watershed feeds many of southern Alberta’s rivers and lakes, covering more than 23,000 square kilometres in the province. It supplies fresh water to communities and farms across the region.

Bradley says there is currently no technology that can effectively remove selenium from waterways once it has leaked into them. She also pointed to a recent report that shows wind-blown coal dust from mines in the Elk Valley have contaminated snowpacks and lakes in Alberta.

Related media coverage:

Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce hosts Northback CEO for Grassy Mountain information session. Quinn Keenan, CTV News.

Coal Mining debate re-ignites over Northback CEO’s visit to Lethbridge. Landon Hickok, Bridge City News.