Land Use and Protection

TransAlta affects land and wildlife through surface mining of coal and the presence of our hydro developments and wind farms.

Surface mining involves removing earth and rock layers to extract coal. TransAlta owns the Whitewood and Highvale surface coal mines near Wabamun, Alberta, and a surface coal mine at Centralia, Washington. These mines cover about 9,112 hectares (22,516 acres).

Our 13 hydro developments, which include plants, reservoirs and canal systems, are in the foothills and mountain areas of central and southern Alberta. Of these, nine developments are in or close to protected areas or national and provincial parks, where we work closely with parks officials to manage the environmental impacts of our operations.

Our five wind farms consist of 220 turbines and directly occupy less than eight hectares (20 acres), sharing the use of the land with agriculture and ranching in southwest Alberta.