Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announces $43 million in repairs and improvements to provincial parks at a news conference in Calgary, Alta., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Todd Korol
EDMONTON Two of Alberta s largest First Nations have written letters to coal companies saying they will oppose any new mine proposals in the Rocky Mountains since the provincial government has consistently ignored their concerns.
The Siksika and Kainai, southwest of Calgary, say new mines would threaten one of the few places that can still support traditional Blackfoot culture. The two First Nations account for about 70 per cent of the Treaty 7 population. After careful review of all proposed metallurgical coal projects, and in response to the government of Alberta s failure to address the Siksika Nation s concerns . Siksika has formally adopted a position opposing any new applications, says one letter from Chief Ouray Crowfoot.
Serious concerns : Alberta First Nations oppose coal expansion in Rocky Mountains
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“The Alberta Energy Regulator is an independent regulator that carefully assesses mining project proposals and holds public consultations on mining and energy project applications. Alberta’s regulatory process is strict, thorough and independent. Project decisions are made by subject matter experts, not politicians.”
Albertans might therefore be interested in a broader picture of their province’s energy regulator and the turmoil, scandal and name changes it has undergone over the past 15 years.
Caught spying on citizens
The AER used to be called the Energy and Utilities Board. After it was caught illegally spying on Albertans in 2007, Justice D.W. Perras described the behaviour of the regulator as “repulsive.”
Investor presentations signalled the Kenney government aimed to open protected lands to open-pit mining.
Tyee contributing editor Andrew Nikiforuk is an award-winning journalist whose books and articles focus on epidemics, the energy industry, nature and more. SHARES Documents show Australian firms seeking open-pit coal mining leases in Alberta got signals protections to sensitive lands would be lifted, clearing the way. The public only found out months later, the day the Coal Policy was rescinded.
Photo: Shutterstock.
Australian mining firms seeking to strip-mine metallurgical coal in Alberta’s eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains knew well ahead of Albertans that the government was planning to rescind a law that stood in the way.
How Alberta’s energy and environment ministers misled on open-pit mining plans.
Tyee contributing editor Andrew Nikiforuk is an award-winning journalist whose books and articles focus on epidemics, the energy industry, nature and more. SHARES Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage with Premier Jason Kenney at a 2019 press conference. Neither made a public appearance in the face of a public backlash against the government’s easing of coal mining.
Photo by Jason Franson, the Canadian Press.
Last week Alberta’s government tried to hide political reality by issuing statements implying the “passion” of citizens had convinced it to back off its efforts to bring open-pit coal mining to a vast, ecologically-vital portion of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
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