American billionaire set to open Cape Breton coal mine

While other Canadian provinces phase out coal, Nova Scotia is defiantly preparing to open its first coal mine since the last one closed in 2001 - this one under the ownership of a secretive American billionaire with ties to the Carlyle Group and Jeb Bush.

Chris Cline, who's been described as a "billionaire coal baron" by Bloomberg News, owns 100 per cent of the once dormant Donkin coal mine in Cape Breton. Cline - who recently contributed $1-million to Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s campaign - has pitted the economy against the environment on the isolated Nova Scotia island with his plans to open Donkin.

“Cape Bretoners today are very protective of that project and want it to go ahead,” declares Adrian White, the executive director of the Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce.”

“It’s not as if this mine is going to last forever and pollute the world, but it is going to be part of the energy equation for the short to medium term,” says White who is a former vice-president of the now-defunct crown corporation, the Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO), which originally dug the mine.

In 2015, Forbes ranked Cline as the 392th wealthiest person in the U.S. with a net worth of $1.7 billion. According to an article the Wisconsin Resource Council published, he owns a 150-acre estate in Beckley, West Virginia and a 34,000 square foot ocean-front mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.