What is the Scott Pit and why does this application matter?

The proposed Scott Pit is not a small gravel operation. It is a 600-acre heavy industrial open-pit mine proposed for the north side of Burma Road, between Range Road 25 and Rocky Ridge Road, to be operated by Heidelberg Materials, a German-based global conglomerate.

If approved, this project would:

  • Extract 2 million tonnes of gravel every year through blasting, drilling and on-site crushing—with operations proposed to run 24 hours a day.

  • Move millions of tonnes of crushed material to Heidelberg’s Calgary operations using a largely untested elevated overland conveyor system.

  • Operate for at least 30 years, bringing decades of industrial activity, noise, dust, blasting, heavy equipment and transportation into the heart of an established country residential area.

This is not a temporary or modest land-use change. It is a major industrial operation that could fundamentally change the character of Bearspaw for generations. More importantly, it sets a dangerous precedent: if a deep-pocketed multinational challenge a municipality’s decisions simply because it does not accept “no” as the answer, the integrity of local land-use planning in all municipalities is at risk.

Why Location Matters

Rocky View County has rejected three separate applications for the Scott pit between 1994 and 2021. Each time, Council reached the same conclusion: the unavoidable impacts of open-pit gravel extraction are fundamentally incompatible with a residential community.

The proposed project would:

  • Diminish quality of life by putting a massive industrial operation in the heart of an established Bearspaw and northwest Calgary residential area.

  • Create potential health risks from dust and emissions generated by blasting, crushing and processing millions of tonnes of aggregate.

  • Put a critical groundwater resource at risk, threatening an aquifer that supports private wells and contributes to the water supply relied on by downstream users, including Calgary.

  • Permanently damage sensitive wetlands and the landscape, with no assurance that these impacts can ever be fully restored.

  • Put more than $160 million in residential property value at risk, while homeowners bear the financial loss and Heidelberg Materials captures the primary economic benefit.

  • Push the impacts into northwest Calgary, with heavy trucks ultimately carrying processed aggregate through Calgary—adding traffic, congestion, noise, road damage and safety risks.

And that is the larger issue: the impacts do not stop at the Scott property. This is a regional industrial operation with consequences for both Rocky View County and Calgary.

Gravel is Not Scarce

There is no compelling need to place a heavy-industrial gravel operation on the Scott property.

  • Gravel resources are abundant throughout southern Alberta. Gravel operations are present in most of Alberta (except the far north)

  • Rocky View County has already-approved gravel pits that have yet to begin operations.

  • Gravel companies also control substantial land elsewhere in the County that may be more appropriately suited to extraction.

The question is not whether Alberta needs gravel - it is where should gravel extraction occur, and does an industrial operation belong inside a residential community.

THE CURRENT NRCB Process

The Government of Alberta referred Heidelberg to the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) through Order in Council 342/2024.  Once complete, the NRCB will review Heidelberg’s application to determine whether the Scott Pit is “in the public interest”.

This moves the decision from Rocky View County to a provincial-level quasi-judicial tribunal, removing the project from the normal county land-use decision-making framework.

The NRCB process is fundamentally different and longer than Rocky View’s public hearings.   While public participation remains important, NRCB hearings rely heavily on technical evidence, expert testimony, and coordinated representation.  Rather than hundreds of residents presenting similar concerns individually. Affected residents are best represented collectively by a single organization.

That is why the Bearspaw Community Coalition exists.

If you’d like to learn more about the NRCB process and/or receive its updates, you can do so on its website.

HOW YOU CAN HELP?

JOIN THE COALITION and strengthen the community’s collective voice.

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