Mountain top. Mining will contaminate streams
By Letter to the Editor on March 20, 2021.
Editor:
Some weeks ago Sonya Savage (Energy Minister) announced there would be “no mountain top removal” on our eastern slopes That was supposed to quiet down the outcry from disbelievers of the mining process in our headwaters. Now our premier has just recently announced that if you leave 10 per cent of the mountain top undisturbed, it is really not considered mountain top removal. Can you believe that?
So really then we are back to square one in our concerns. It appears the government is headstrong in going ahead with strip mining in our headwaters regardless of definition and regardless of the majority of Albertans being opposed to it. They just don’t get it.
There is no process to date that prevents selenium and other toxins from entering our streams. Tech mines in B.C. have been struggling with this problem for years and keep trying but to no avail.
Our MLAs need to realize that open-pit mining is unacceptable in our Eastern Slopes. If it is allowed, it’s inevitable that our streams will be contaminated. This water serves all of southern Alberta. Water is our lifeline. Should we be concerned?
Garry Hackler
Cowley
-1
Nope.
Enlightened response indeed.
Absolutely, millions of us should be concerned. Even spokespeople for the $billion dollar irrigation ag sector are concerned. Since when, would the Kenney UCP prioritize iffy Australian open-pit coal mining companies over our own ag sector, including food, crop, and animal production. This type of coal production will not be the financial savior for Alberta. What it would do, is endanger our waters, environment,. wildlife habitat, recreation, hunting , fishing, our tourism industry…..on and on. It seems to be utter madness on the part of the Kenney UCP let alone their ridiculous $30 million/year war room going after a cartoon. It just beats all.
And then we have Jason Nixon, the Environment Minister, saying Albertans have been misinformed about water safety in relation to open-pit coal mining. Do the Kenney UCP believe they can fool and hoodwink us into infinity? Unreal. No wonder the AB NDP is now way ahead of the UCP with voting intentions. The UCP not backpedaling on open-pit coal mining, and their other foibles including unwise austerity, do so, at their peril.
Gary, we should all be very concerned, since there is no water available in the South Saskatchewan water basin and not to the volume needed or coal mining. This means that other licensed users will have to forgo their allotments. Then there is the impending risk of toxic contamination which will require water users in southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba seeking other sources (not readable available) or extensive water treatment. Needless to say, fish and wildlife suffer from the toxic contaminants. This open mining will forever change our lives with no feasible return to owners of the resource, the people of the Province of Alberta. One may assume that the only people benefiting from this action are the mining companies and the persons allowing this to happen.
thank you for a logical letter.
hear! hear! to the entries added by so.ab and phlush!
Jason Kenney continues to ignore climate change aligning each time with dirty coal and oil industry.
Supreme Court called climate change a “threat of the highest order to the country, and indeed the world… the undisputed existence of a threat to the future of humanity cannot be ignored.”
Premier Jason Kenney needs to understand that when a ‘natural resource’ turns out to ultimately destroy our environment and threatens life – it’s time to STOP protecting and producing that resource and industry that exploits it.
SAGE environmental has a great letter on this: http://sage-environment.org/?p=20