Editor:
I believe the liability term required for development on the Three Sisters lands is hardly sufficient considering geotechnical hazards associated with past coal mining can and will occur over decades and centuries.
I suggested in the past the Town of Canmore should require the developer to post a $5 million surety bond to be used by the Town should a risk of harm materialize. Now that property values are so high, that should be at least doubled.
If the developer believes their development to be safe from these geotechnical hazards, does anyone think any of their directors/owners would accept personal liability for the safety of their development?
I was born in Canmore. My grandfather started work in the No. 1 Mine in 1907. My father began work in the No. 2 Mine in 1925-26 and I started work in the Wilson Seam Mine in 1963. I also worked underground in the Grande Cache Mine beginning in 1969.
I was an Intervenor at the National Resource Conservation Board (NRCB) hearings in 1990 on the Three Sisters Resorts and was recommended by the NRCB to serve on Canmore's first Undermining Review Committee. This committee was to formulate a set of guidelines for development and/or non-development over areas of past mining activity. These guidelines were based on peer-reviewed science and specific to Three Sister's Resorts proposed developments.
These guidelines were specific to geotechnical hazards associated with developing over coal seams – mined and unmined and included: the type and strength of coal; amount of coal and rock extracted; predicted surface subsidence; methane; recurring flooding in abandoned mines since recurring flooding complicates the prediction of surface subsidence because caving debris moves downslope and can lead to increased water pressure and lifting of underground roof systems.
This phenomenon of inverted stress strain relation may have aided in the collapse of Three Sisters Parkway as the overlying concrete slab lifted before collapsing.
Canmore coal is highly sheared and volatile and methane is associated with all coal seams. Derek Steele, past consultant to the Town of Canmore and chair of the Undermining Review Committee said the No. 3 Mine located in the Smith Creek area was one of the gassiest (methane) coal mines in North America.
A video and written submissions I've made can be found at www.canmorecommons.com.
a video re: undermining (Haimila TSV Undermining) and a written submission can be found on the (CanmoreCommons.com site) Haimila submission... Raymond Haimila,
Canmore
