LETTER to the Editor: The reaction of the UCP government to the will of the people when it comes to coal exploration on the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains is absurdly, undemocratic and dictatorial by Jim Gough, Feb 6, 2025, Rocky Mountain Outlook
Editor:
The reaction of the UCP government to the will of the people when it comes to coal exploration on the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains is absurdly, undemocratic and dictatorial.
Albertans clearly and repeatedly said no to coal mining in the hopes of protecting their water and their environmental landscape from devastation. First Nation’s reaction was uniformly against the devastation of their natural home. This is, after all, Albertan’s place not foreign mining companies.
Without meaningful open and transparent public consultation, Brian Jean, UCP Minister of Energy and Minerals, opened new mining possibilities in the name of clarity. Or is it the threat of lawsuits by the foreign mining moguls, a tactic the UCP has used unsuccessfully against the federal government’s attempts to protect the environment?
Lots of people thought no was clear except the UCP. To be clear, according to the UCP, 70 per cent of Albertans surveyed who opposed future mining projects are wrong, not to be taken seriously, or simply ignored to cash in quickly on limited demand for coal.
Proclaiming to foreign mining companies that “Alberta is Open for Business” with potential windfall profits, incentivized by the lowest royalty rates charged anywhere on the planet (The Tyee, Andrew Nikiforuk, January 9/10), makes billionaires richer and puts our environment in danger.
Thanks to reporting, we have factual details of extensive political lobbying by foreign and domestic mining magnates. While there were a couple of hand-picked committees agreeing, of course, with UCP directives, there was no public forum for everyday Albertans’ voices.
Do Alberta’s citizens need our own lobbying groups to be heard or a different democratic government? Otherwise, we’ll be left with the wealthification of politics and the enslavement of the many by the wealthy few.
Jim Gough,
Canmore
I was sent this lovely Mountains not Mines gift box during the first Grassy Mountain rape attempt by Gina et. al.
Alan Spiller:
Former conservative MLAs taught me a long time ago to never trust a Reformer.
Not only do they destroy jobs they help the rich steal the peoples oil and corporate tax wealth and that’s exactly what they have done, and are still doing it.
Unlike the Lougheed and Getty conservatives they aren’t interested in looking after the well being of the people. Yet gullible Albertans continue to support the word Conservative and that’s why we are in financial ruin and no other oil rich area in the world is. While Alaska has $80 billion in their savings account, and every man, woman and child has received $52,000. each in total annual oil dividend cheques since 1982, we have an $85 billion debt, and a $260 billion oil well cleanup mess
that $260B clean up liability calculation was years and thousands of fracs ago. I bet with AER persistently helping rogue companies walk from clean up, the liability is closer to 300B by now, and rising. I blame Alberta con voters always protecting and aiding the criminal con politicos.
Municipal district scraps Grassy Mountain appeal after provincial coal rule changes, Alberta government lifted ban on coal exploration in Eastern Slopes in late January by Joel Dryden, CBC News, Feb 05, 2025
The reeve of a southwestern ranching community says the municipal district has cancelled its appeal of exploration applications tied to the Grassy Mountain site in southwestern Alberta.
Ron Davis, reeve of the M.D. of Ranchland, said recent rule changes from the provincial government have upended the district’s arguments tied to its Alberta Court of Appeal case.
“Given that the government has changed the rules, our case didn’t seem like it had as much impact as we would like,” Davis said.
In August 2024, Alberta’s top court allowed Ranchland’s appeal, with Justice Kevin Feth writing he found that “a serious, arguable issue [was] established” after the provincial energy regulator accepted applications from Northback Holdings, the company behind the Grassy Mountain mine project.
But in January, the Alberta government lifted a ban on coal exploration in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains, a move the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) said would allow suspended projects to resume.
Ranchland’s case had been based on the idea that new exploration applications from Northback should have been subject to a moratorium issued in 2022, said Nigel Bankes, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Calgary.
“This [move is] not surprising,” Bankes wrote in an email. “Since Minister [Brian] Jean’s ministerial order lifted the moratorium, there was really no longer any basis on which the M.D. could argue the AER should not be considering the applications.”
A spokesperson in Jean’s office declined to comment, citing the matter being before the AER or the court.Fucking dirty ugly soulless coward
Ball now in AER’s court
Last month, the AER wrapped up a second round of public hearings in Calgary tied to exploration permits submitted by Northback Holdings. The first round of hearings was held in Pincher Creek, Alta., in December.
A decision from the AER is expected 90 days from the close of the hearing. Exploration cannot proceed unless and until Northback receives a positive decision from the AER, Bankes noted.
Grassy Mountain was previously rejected in 2021 by the federal government, which cited adverse effects “on surface water quality, including from selenium effluent discharge.”
With its new plans, Northback has promised a more modern operation, including “minimizing environmental impacts and disruptions.”Promises from this piece of shit, name changing lying company is not worth a piece of toilet paper used by the orange pretendian pres of the usa that Gina gushed over.
The long-controversial proposed coking coal mine has seen support in recent months from residents of Crowsnest Pass, who voted decisively in a non-binding vote in favour of the project.
Many in that community have expressed hopes that the mine moving ahead would lift the local economy.Have they ever got one hell of a lot to learn.
The site is not actually located in Crowsnest Pass, but in nearby Ranchland, which has long stood in opposition of the coal project. That difference in opinion led to Crowsnest Pass council floating the idea late last year of annexing Ranchland.So many rude bullies and their annexing threats. Fuckers.
Ranchland has a small population of just over 100 residents. Davis, the reeve of the M.D., said the district is “very disappointed” with how the rule changes have played out.
“We are very concerned, given that there would be the potential for more mines within our boundaries. And that is a large concern,” Davis said.
Legal experts have also said the province’s recent rule changes could undermine ongoing legal cases that coal companies launched against the province for billions in damages. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said the province was considering taxpayers when it took action. Just like her hero, painted orange pony, Smith is a liar.
“If you look at the lawsuits that have been filed, it’s $16 billion with the potential liability,” Smith said in January. “We have to take that seriously, and we have to make sure that the taxpayers are protected. At the same time, metallurgical coal is incredibly valuable.”Liar Liar Liar.
Colin Tomlins:
Amazing how a project that has already been rejected gets to come back to bat, again and again. I guess that is the UCP advantage for corporations.
George Lawrence:
“…we have to make sure that the taxpayers are protected…” said Smith. From the ill-considered and underhanded prior actions of her own government? Since when has careful husbanding of taxpayers’ money been a consideration for the UCP?
Christopher Thorne:
It was their decision to lift the moratorium on coal mining, and then subsequent backtracking that exposed the tax payer to these lawsuits in the first place! It was UCP that gambled away $1.3 BILLION in taxpayer money on a pipeline that completely hinged on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. It’s the UCP that squandered 10s of millions on the so-called ‘war-room’ to fight for those poor multi-billion dollar multinational oil companies. It’s the UCP that’s now carving up AHS into four separate entities, which will increase beaurocracy, increase the number of top-level board members and executives with hefty salaries, and will destroy the economies of scale that AHS had been able to leverage in purchasing decisions. This government wouldn’t know fiscal responsibility if it smacked them in the face.
Water for Food voices concerns over coal mining’s impact on ag sector by Alexandra Noad, Jan 30, 2025, Lethbridge Herald
Southern Alberta is known for its vast farmland, which contributes billions of dollars to the economy and Chris Spearman fears the proposed Grassy Mountain Coal Mine will negatively impact the agri-food sector and southern Alberta.
Spearman, former Lethbridge mayor and a spokesman for the group Water For Food, says he was alarmed at the Dec. 20 announcement and is wondering why the Albertan government would jeopardize the economy for a project that has a limited life span.
“My question to the Government of Alberta is why would you jeopardize (the agriculture economy) by building a cola mine that’ll only generate 400 over a limited life of 25 years at the max.”
The Oldman River provides water for a significant portion of Canada’s irrigated land and, according to a scientific paper titled Environmental Pollution, Volume 344 by Colin A. Cooke, Craig A. Emmerton and Paul E. Drevnick, published March 1, 2024, water samples collected downstream from historical coal mines contained selenium. The paper suggests that, if the Grassy Mountain Coal Mine were to open, it would have devastating effects to the Oldman River.
“Selenium concentrations downstream of Tent Mountain reached 185 ug/L in a lake below the mine spoil pile an up to 23 ug/L in Crowsnest Creek, which drains the lake and the mine property,” says Spearman.
Studies suggest that once selenium poisoning is found in water, it’s already too late. Its effects can’t be reversed and there are no ways to remove selenium to make it safe to drink.
Spearman says if selenium is found in our agriculture, it will cause a situation much like the “mad cow” scare that affected Alberta 20 years ago.
“When excess selenium levels are found in our agricultural products, and we export about 14 billion worth of those annually, our economy will shut down,” Spearman says. “Some people will remember when one mad cow was identified in Alberta about 20 years ago and nobody would buy beef from Alberta, all of our exports shut down for about a year.”
Spearman adds that unlike the one case of mad cow, selenium poisoning can last for up to 20 years after the mine is closed.
It’s not just the irrigated crops that are going to be affected if selenium poisoning is detected in the Oldman River. Some 200,000 people depend on the Oldman River for drinking water.
Many municipalities, including Lethbridge, take water from the Oldman and process it through their treatment plants. Its then used for drinking water and by major agrifood businesses such as Cavendish, Frito-Lay and Richardson Oil Seeds use the water to manufacture goods.
Spearman says he is asking the Government of Alberta what its backup plan is if the Old Man River is contaminated and becomes unsafe to consume.
“My next question to the Alberta Government is, when you contaminate the Oldman River with selenium and make the water unfit for human consumption and we can no longer make portable water from the Oldman River, what is their solution? What’s the backup source of water for cooking and food processing plants?”
According to a study done by Brad Stelfox a landscape ecologist for ALCES, coal mines use a significant amount of water year-round and will impact waterflow through the Oldman River and reservoir, which have already seen low levels from droughts in recent years. The study suggests a mine will result in additional water shortages.
Southern Alberta is known for its wind, with gusts often reaching 100km/hr during chinooks. When the exposed coal rocks get wet, they will release contaminates downstream, and when it is dry coal dust along with its contaminates will blow all over southern Alberta, with no way to control it.
In 2021, Brian Jean was critical of Jason Kenney’s proposed coal policy saying, “he should consult Albertans on whether we want to put a moratorium on new coal development in the southern foothills.”
Four years later he is now creating new coal policies, without consulting Albertans.
Spearman says if Albertans were mad four years ago, they should be even more angry now.
“I always say to people ‘if you were mad four years ago, you should be really mad now that it’s come back again.”
Charles:
An excellent description of the insanity behind these coal mines Mr. Spearman. Research on the western slopes shows that coal dust coats the snowpack. This causes selenium to contaminate the precious melt water that nourishes us. The dark coating absorbs sunlight and results in faster melting. It’s a crazy scenario for very little gain
Premier’s duty is to Alberta, not Australia by Phil Burpee, Letter to Lethbridge Herald, January 31, 2025
Dear Editor,
An open letter to Premier Danielle Smith:
Greetings. I write to you today to express both concern and disappointment as to the recent turnaround in provincial policy pertaining to coal mine exploration and development in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains. And here I speak as a ratepayer in the MD of Pincher Creek as well as a voter on the provincial electoral rolls. I operate a modest farm and ranch operation on the northern banks of the Oldman River just a few miles downstream and downwind of the Crowsnest Pass. As such I maintain a keen awareness of any and all looming threats to my livelihood and to that of my neighbours, be they legislative, environmental or economic. I must say that in this instance I can tick all three of those boxes.
So, here’s a bit of absurdist humour to add to the menu. The other day on the radio I heard the head honcho of Montem Resources, an Australian company with interest in metallurgical coal extraction in the Pass, threatening legal action against the Government of Alberta for perceived financial damage resulting from the 2022 reinstatement of Peter Lougheed’s 1976 Coal Policy by Minister Savage in the then Kenney administration – following widespread public outcry at its previous surreptitious abandonment I might add. Now, I don’t wish to be unkind, but I think you can agree that there are few things more rattling to Canadian ears than the speech patterns of a full-blown, back-country Aussie in full foghorn mode. Here’s what this corporate kangaroo was saying, in full twang (and you’ll have to use your imagination here, Madam Premier. Picture Crocodile Dundee in suit and tie, frothing and ranting):
“This decision was unlawful and I demand restitution for being denied the right of access to my property!” Following which, I suppose, he went off to put another shrimp on the barbie.
What’s wrong with this picture? Well, given a general high regard in Alberta for the overarching concept of property rights, we might fairly take issue with this foreign national laying claim to a resource which is clearly and fundamentally the property of the Crown in right of the people of Alberta. What is being offered to these licence-holders is, in fact and by constitutional intent, merely access to a commodity, wholly owned by the people of Alberta, for the purposes of extraction and commercial exploitation. They do not own it. The very idea that a trans-national entity can own property which is held in perpetual trust by the Crown for all Albertans now and into the future is preposterous. Any inference to that effect must be quashed directly and emphatically. Certainly our elected representatives in the provincial government must act as the front line against any such encroachment of terminology and the law. We already gave away too much to the coal and railroad barons of a hundred years ago. This hemorrhaging of our birthrights must stop.
The other problem element here, apart from the blowhard Australians, including the boorish Gina Rinehart who is the über-boss of Northback Holdings, is the seemingly arbitrary reversal of a previously quite clear determination on the part of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) pertaining to submissions put forward by mining proponents, principally Benga Mining (now Northback), under the Joint Review Panel (JRP) which delivered its report to the AER in June of 2021. In its then findings, the AER quite clearly and thoroughly debunked both the economic promises and the environmental assurances as put forward by Benga, citing them as being poorly calibrated and respectively over- and under-estimated to a gross extent. In short, what the AER was saying was that Benga’s promises of riches to the region and to provincial coffers, and its assurances of ecological integrity were both groundless and worse, spurious and deceitful in nature.
And so what has changed? I fully realize that threats of lawsuits may be a certain motivating factor, but we have to assume that the UCP government of the day must have factored in that possibility when it made its previous reversal. It can’t be said that this is a credible factor in this now astonishing reversal of a reversal!
I urge you, therefore, to draw a deep breath and gird thy loins accordingly, and recall that your primary duty is to all the good folk of this province who place their trust in you daily to affect the best possible outcomes for this and all future generations – not to mention our hundreds of thousands of neighbours on down the drainage line of the Oldman/Saskatchewan River system in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Do not panic in the breach. Three years ago a vast and diverse swath of Albertans came forward with a resounding ‘no’ to strip coal mining all up and down the Eastern Slopes. It was one of the most compelling and focused manifestation of public intent, across all sectors of society and ‘downstream’ business interests, that we have seen in a long time. This craven reversal flies in the face of all that.
Your path is clear. Be forthright. Don’t cave. You will be reckoned to have come to your senses for putting the brakes on and steering back towards the high road on this file. Reverse this reversal of a reversal. Blame it on the hapless Brian Jean – nobody will mind. Yes, protect our water and our fish and our farmers. Speak for the future, for all our kids. Just say no to strip coal mining. It is, in every conceivable respect, the right thing to do. It’s bad business, plain and simple. There is simply no credible argument to be made in its favour, only shallow, greedy and expeditious short-termism, not to mention a rather unbecoming pandering to power interests. Remember your Wildrose roots, Madam Premier – it is always to the grassroots that respect and deference are owed.
Phil Burpee
Pincher Creek
Along the same lines, I would like to see this government own up to the mistake of unilaterally dropping the 1976 Coal Policy without public consultation. Neudorf was recently quoted trying to pass it off as the decision of the ‘previous government’ – disingenuous at best, as he was part of that ‘previous government’. Let’s begin with an apology.
And how quickly these representatives are now rolling to appease the litigant! It has the distasteful appearance of collusion. Especially as the UCP are already raising the spectre of a tax impact – they certainly know the Pavlovian bell to ring when they want something.
I believe Smith and Jean were/are in on the plan for the companies to sue, and to use this fake protection of taxpayers undo the reinstatement of the original coal policy. I’ve never seen the UCP give half a shit about Albertans (except for corporate big nits and rich donors). The blabbity bla of modernizing the policy to make possible the impossible cleaning up/prevention of selenium contamination is just blabbity bla. The water will be ruined, the companies know it, so do the UCP. And. They. Don’t. Give. A. Damn.
A better government would evaluate the cost risk of a lawsuit against the cost risk of contaminated water and its impacts on the agri-food industry that uses that water to irrigate its crops and finish its cattle. It would be my guess that Alberta’s $10+ billion ag industry, employing almost 70,000 people is not only more important economically, but more useful (coal is a dying industry). Once that penetrates the UCP brain trust, then defend Albertans in court and protect our water.
Southern Albertan Reply to SophieR:
This risk to the agri-food industry is real, and serious. The irony of a right wing agri-food UCP voting base is not lost on many of us. Is this why we’re not hearing a loud hue and cry from these voters? While realizing it takes time and effort to change one’s political belief system, what would the waiting be for? When the damage is done? Is this voting base believing that this UCP government would not jeopardize their industry? It would seem to be a no-brainer that these voters should be warning off this UCP government in a proactive manner.In my experience, many rural Albertans are cowards, terrified of their gov’t. Silly idiots. They have so much power, but are too afraid to wield it.
Fedup Conservative Reply to SophieR:
They had no business reopening this can of worms after Lougheed protected us did they, but that’s what they do destroy everything Conservatives have created for the good of the people, that’s always been their mandate, hasn’t it?
biff:
dear neudorf and smitty, and good brian jean…you restrict coal mining on the grounds of how it will undermine first nations health and culture, environmental pollution, water sustainability (and at the least based on toxic and shortage of water concerns), no?
and, however did a govt come to “entirely” give up the right to what is of the land belonging to the people? that will have been done without a mandate, no matter how many fools held seats under the con name. that was never a part of the expressed govt plan during any election campaign and the people never had a say.
at worst, create a fund that returns whatever were the original purchase costs to the original companies involved, with normal interest added covering that time frame – and then let the whole lot of those that later bought from the original cos all fight it out for their share from that fund.
Fedup Conservative:
Phil Great letter we couldn’t have said it any better. The true Conservatives in my world are sick and tired of watching these Reformers pretending they are Conservatives deliberately destroy what our hero Peter Lougheed created for the good of the people.
The disgusting part is why did so many Rural Albertans support them? Are they so naive they don’t know a True Conservative from a damn Reformer, and can they explain to us how we are going to get out of this “Horrific Financial Mess” as Lougheed called it?
***
imWilson_EXMP @calltheelectio2:
Fuck Gina Rinehart. She’s a threat to democracy. She’s an evil piece of shit running an empire her father gifted her.
Don’t let her expand her empire to include our government like Melonhead did in the US.
Fuck her.
@NotSoTravelled:
She’s as nuts as Musk, isn’t she….
@AngieBowker3:
Happy to stand with a convicted felon without a single redeeming quality Ms Rinehart, what a despicable act.
@HempEdification:
Great day for it, i.e., Sentencing Day for the felonious Orange Oligarch. Aside from that Gina the Hutt is just another wealthy pathological liar. Ho hum, she does NOT speak for any but those whom kiss her ring, speaking non-vernacularly.
@SoundVisLoom:
Understandable the arse lickers are starting to line up now. Who would choose that photo though? It feels like trolling from him and trolling him simultaneously. Ugliness in every way.
Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta and her boss, extreme evangelical, law-violating super creepy, Take Back Alberta into the Black Death Ages, David Parker
Strip mining to be allowed under Alberta’s new coal rules, Alberta’s modernized coal rules will permit strip mining and other surface mining techniques in the Rockies and foothills. Scientists and conservationists are skeptical of the government’s claims these methods will reduce environmental contamination risks associated with coal mining by Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Jan 14, 2025, St Albert Gazette
Alberta’s modernized coal rules will permit strip mining and other surface mining techniques in the Rockies and foothills. Scientists and conservationists are skeptical of the government’s claims these mining practices will reduce environmental contamination risks.
When Energy and Minerals minister Brian Jean introduced Alberta’s Coal Industry Modernization Initiative in December, he said the new policy direction will reflect the highest environmental standards and that new proposals will need to be underground mines or use mining technologies to minimize overburden and prevent pollution.Standard statement: Jean is a liar, Gina is a liar, Smith is a Lair, Schultz is a liar, PeePee is a liar, repeat 1 billion times, or more.
The forthcoming regulations will ban mountain topGina and her UCP KKKlan will just given a new fancy name, like mountain razed mining, copying frac’ers saying they don’t frac after communities they rape get contaminated drinking water, they “stimulate.” Same Fucking Thing removal mining and new open-pit mines, with exceptions for advanced projects.Which Jean uncreatively named Grassy Mountain to give it to Gina, and enable the ruination of drinking water for many Along with underground mining, the list of techniques that meet government standards includes various conventional surface mining methods
“There are a variety of technical techniques: highwall, contour mining, auger mining, self-contained progressive reclamation mining, etc. The important part for our purposes is that we want to minimize the movement and displacement of overburden. We don’t want overburden to leach out selenium,” a spokesperson for Energy and Minerals said.THERE ARE THE LOOPHOLES. “WANT” HAS NO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIVE IMPACT WHATSOEVER. DOES NOT MATTER. AFTER THE WATER IS CONTAMINATED WITH SELENIUM AFTER THE OVERBURDEN IS BLASTED OFF OR “DISPLACED” the water will be contaminated with selenium, doesn’t matter what the fuckers say they want. Besides, they, especially Greed Queen Gina have proven over and over what they say is not to be trusted, EVER.
Contour mining is one of the two main types of strip mining and is used in uneven terrain where a coal seam follows the curves of foothills or other outcrops, such as the steep slopes of the Appalachian coalfields.
Augur mining and highwall mining are techniques used to recover coal adjacent to areas already cleared during surface mining and involve boring horizontally into partially exposed coal seams.
The minister’s office said large-scale strip-mining operations like those found on the prairies, also called area mining, aren’t suitable in the foothills because the “coal isn’t on the surface in a flat way that allows a large strip mine.” There are no established regulations for how much overburden can be removed or size limits for mining operations, but the ministry is “consulting with industry on the details.”Just like the useless Alberta govt and AER had frac’ers and bitumen miners come up with their lame do not protect water regulations.
Dr. Bill Donahue, independent scientist and former executive director of science for Alberta Environment, says the types of surface mining identified by the province are also known to cause selenium and toxic metal contamination, and it is unclear what Alberta’s government means by minimizing overburden.just another bamboozlement of the masses so that they keep voting con, no matter how contaminated their air, land, liverstock, pets, bodies, homes, communities, drinking water gets.
“Does that mean just anything lower than what you would expect if you’re just blasting the whole mountain apart? I’d say there are a lot of caveats in what they’re saying,” Donahue said.
“In terms of strip mining versus pit mining, I don’t know how much of a difference there is going to be. Because when you’re doing it on the side of a mountain, water flows downhill. And I don’t see how that’s not going to end up being a huge selenium pump.”
Selenium is a naturally occurring element found in rock among coal formations. When exposed to water and air, the element chemically transforms into a bioavailable form of selenium that seeps out of the rock into groundwater or nearby streams or rivers. At elevated levels, selenium is toxic to aquatic life and has been linked to mass death of fish downstream from coal mines.
“The problem is the cumulative waste rock,” not necessarily how much overburden is displaced at once, Donahue said.
Preventing selenium leaching into waterways during excavation, processing, and reclamation has been an enduring challenge for the mining industry. “If it were easy, it would be going on everywhere. And yet, selenium is the major problem at most coal mines,” he said.
Donahue said the government of Alberta should release the scientific evidence that informed its position on contamination risks associated with contour mining and other surface mining techniques.I bet there isn’t any, other than some fancy fairy tale in Gina’s mind
Kennedy Halvorson, conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association, said it is concerning that the government is largely focused on consultation with the coal industry to determine policy when coal affects many different parties.That’s what con gov’ts always do, shit on those that worship and predictably always vote for them, no matter how deeply they are buried in con shit.
“The initiative assumes that we have best management practices that will be sufficient to prevent like contamination in our watersheds, or that we will produce new technologies to be developed by industry to do so. But despite the industry’s very regular assurances, this has yet to happen,” Halvarson said.It never happens, and even if it did, those practices would provide zero pollution prevention because 1) they’re voluntary and 2) companies, notably foreign like Gina’s, just ignore them if they are voluntary or not. Encana/Ovintive was not legally allowed to frac Rosebud’s drinking water aquifers, but intentionally did anyways, violating every law and rule in place to protect Alberta drinking water, with gov’t, AER, Alberta Environment tripping over themselves engaging in fraud and abusing the harmed to help the criminal frac’er cover it up, lie to community and abuse those courageous enough to speak out publicly and violate their charter rights trying to terrify them silent.
Image by FrackingCanada
“Even in the most environmentally friendly mines, we still see incidents of environmental degradation. There’s just no environmentally friendly way to do coal mining. So, I think they’re over relying on this belief that they’ll come up with a technology to keep things like selenium out of the water, and that’s just yet to be true.”Alberta gov’t? Pfffft. They don’t give a shit about us, water, air, land, law, nothing, they just care about circle jerking their own, and money. Just look to the hundreds of billions in oilfield liabilities companies are walking away from, refusing to stop deadly methane leaks, refusing to clean up, with UCP, AER, Alberta Environment, the corrupt courts aiding them
Alberta’s coal mining regulations are expected by the end of 2025.
Farmer’s Son Jan 14, 2025:
Games the UCP plays. Who is surprised by this?Those that vote con, decade after decade, no matter how they get abused by them. Stupid voting practices rule the environmental rape & pillage pollution disaster that is Alberta
jammie fortier Jan 15, 2025:
One of the differences between coal mines and wind/solar farms is that solar/wind farms can be disassembled and the land reverts in a matter of years, but coal mines take centuries-millennia. it is obvious the UCP rate short term financial results and pleasing their corporate overlords over the natural health of the province and its’ citizens.