• Minister directs Yukon gov’t corporations not to mull over coal-fired power projects

  Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
  Date: 2026-10-26 11:00:00.0
  Tags: [National, Energy, Environment, Mining, Governance]

  Yukon Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Ted Laking issued a directive instructing the Yukon Development Corporation and the Yukon Energy Corporation to refrain from pursuing or considering coal-fired power generation projects. The ministerial directive coincides with an opposition motion brought by NDP MLA Carmen Gustafson, which urged the territorial government to direct the Yukon Utilities Board under section 17 of the Public Utilities Act to reject any applications for energy projects using coal. The debate highlights ongoing friction surrounding Vancouver-based Strategic Metals' coal exploration project near Braeburn, Yukon, and its potential application for power generation despite federal plans to phase out coal-fired power by 2030.

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• Minister to Yukon gov’t corporations: no more coal

  Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
  Date: 2026-10-26 11:00:00.0
  Tags: [National, Energy, Environment, Mining, Governance]

  Yukon Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Ted Laking issued a directive to the Yukon Energy Corporation and the Yukon Development Corporation prohibiting them from pursuing or considering coal-fired power projects. The directive coincided with an opposition motion brought by NDP MLA Carmen Gustafson, which urged the territorial government to direct the Yukon Utilities Board under section 17 of the Public Utilities Act to reject any applications for energy projects using coal. The political debate was prompted by Vancouver-based Strategic Metals proposing a coal exploration project near Braeburn, Yukon, and evaluating coal-fired power generation despite the federal government's mandate to phase out coal-fired power by 2030.

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• They're two of the biggest proposed mining projects in the Yukon. How will they be powered?

  Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
  Date: 2026-09-15 10:00:00.0
  Tags: [National, Mining, Energy, Environment, Climate, Resources]

  Two major proposed mining projects in the Yukon—Western Copper and Gold’s Casino Mining Corporation project and Talamore Mining’s Coffee Gold mine project—are planning their on-site power generation systems using liquefied natural gas, diesel, and solar power. The Casino project anticipates emitting roughly 16,310 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually and is evaluating a future connection to the proposed Yukon-B.C. Grid Connect intertie, while the Coffee Gold project expects to emit approximately 91,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually over its 11-year operating span. Both companies anticipate paying the industrial carbon tax while pursuing emission reduction strategies such as overhead cable systems for haul trucks and expanded solar arrays.

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• ‘Environmental racism’: Fort Chipewyan residents protest proposed treat-and-release plan for tailings water

  Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
  Date: 2026-09-09 12:00:00.0
  Tags: [Alberta, National, Environment, Energy, Mining, Indigenous]

  Residents of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta—including members of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Mikisew Cree First Nation, and Fort Chipewyan Métis community—protested a proposed treat-and-release plan by Suncor Energy to discharge treated oilsands tailings water into the Athabasca River. Suncor aims to begin operating its water treatment plant and releasing treated tailings by 2030, a proposal supported by recommendations from the Alberta oilsands mine water steering committee to manage over 380 million cubic metres of mine water and 1.5 billion cubic metres of fluid tailings. Federal officials from the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Nature noted that no federal effluent regulation is currently in place for oilsands mines, meaning such operations remain subject to the general prohibition against releasing deleterious substances under Section 36(3) of the Fisheries Act.

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• Company works to sell Yukon on coal-fired electricity amid push to phase it out

  Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
  Date: 2026-08-28 22:46:19.0
  Tags: [National, Energy, Mining, Resources, Environment, Climate]

  Vancouver-based Strategic Metals has proposed developing the Division Mountain deposit southwest of Braeburn, Yukon, to fuel a proposed 100-megawatt coal-fired power plant and open pit coal mine. The facility would burn 500,000 tonnes of coal annually for over a century to address the territory's growing energy deficit and recent grid strains. The proposal faces intense criticism from researchers and conservationists, including Eyab Al-Aini of the Canadian Climate Institute and Sebastian Jones of the Yukon Conservation Society, due to a lack of carbon capture and storage details, greenhouse gas emissions that are double those of natural gas, and the federal government's 2030 phase-out pledge for unabated coal plants.

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