Coal news and updates

Calgary councillors are being urged to join growing opposition to coal development in the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies.

 

A council committee discussed Alberta’s coal policy Wednesday in the wake of a growing outcry over the UCP government’s decision to revoke a 1976 policy that protected a large stretch of the Rockies from open-pit mining. The area in question includes the headwaters for the water supply in all of southern Alberta, and at least six cities, towns and municipal districts in the province’s southwest have expressed concern about the decision.

 

Since the policy change last year, the province has sold 1.4 million hectares of coal exploration leases along the foothills and mountaintops of the Eastern Slopes.

 

Some municipal officials say they worry about toxic amounts of selenium entering their water supply as a result of mining, and they’re also concerned about permanently damaging Alberta’s natural landscapes.

 

Source : https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news