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Grand Cache Case Study

Decent Essays

1.0 Introduction

Grand Cache was previously known for its coal wealth between 1969 until 2014. Mass employment saw in the flux of migrants and hundreds of families settled in Grand Cache. By the end of 2011, the town had over 4,000 populations. The community grew as a result of economic development around Coal. Before 2014, Grand Cache was called the coal engine of Alberta. However, within the last three years, the story had changed. The majority of the working class, are migrating off the town. Development has started declining so fast. Today, the community is seeking provincial approval to be absorbed into a larger municipality. Was there a war in the city? No! The single-resource that brought the city together for over 35 years is now …show more content…

The city experienced a high influx of people and a speedy development. The once urban settlement soon became a beautiful town. People bought and built houses. Shopping malls were erected. Due to the large population, various social amenities were also in place.

In 2005, there was a collapse in the global market. This sudden event affected Up Energy Development Group Ltd (UEDGL) in 2015 the major provider of employment in Grand Cache. The company was in debt. 1,500 jobs were lost and the company suspended their surface mine operation. In September 2015, UEDGL eventually shut down its operation till date. Mass unemployment ravaged Grand Cache. In June 2016, business downtowns were shutting down; clothing stores changed hours. Nearly all the working population in Grand cache, sought jobs outside the town. The mass exodus out of Grand cache caused reduced property value up to 50% (Fourniel, 2016). Even though Grand Cache municipality reduced business tax by 6%, the town did not revive itself. Running cost for the redevelopment skyrocketed with low revenue. In 2016, Grand Cache asked the provincial government to merge them with the Municipal district of Greenview because they are no longer viable. The …show more content…

Tens of business closed up, which directly affected a large number of households. The coal mining operations companies also left environmental contaminants in the environment. Pollutions from coal mining have a direct effect on water, land air. Some of the pollutants contaminate ground water, surface water and impact on other land-uses. Besides the slope failure and explosion, environmental impact from coal mining causes erosion; leachates production, which seeping into ground water, and dust pollution. Heavy metals compound like lead, cadmium and arsenic dominates coal mining sites (Bhuiyan, Parvez, Islam, & Dampare, 2010). These metals are toxic to plant and animal. Some absorb some of these dissolved metals and introduce them into the food circle. When rainwater mixes with coal waste, the runoffs becomes acidic, which reduce PH of surface waters. (Komitas, 2001) Population inhaling coal dust suffers black lung disease and other complication like lung cancer, and heart failure (Finkelman & Orem, 2002). Coal mining in uranium mines is another source of radioactive exposure. Another environmental impact from coal mined lands includes emission of greenhouse gasses. Future land redevelopment in grand Cache, must deal with this issues before development could take

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