Mines a peril to us
By Letter to the Editor on April 1, 2021.
Editor: I live in west Lethbridge and experienced the 120-140 km winds over the weekend..
We were not evacuated but most of us on this edge of town had packed our vehicles. It was terrifying.
By this time next year, if our protests fail, we will have an open pit coal mine in the Pass, right where those gale-force winds funnel through.
Scientists have told us that we will experience water-born selenium contamination from the Old Man River system.
In addition, the contamination caused by wind will be severe as well. This is a form of contamination most other coal areas don’t experience.
As we watched and waited yesterday, we were all thinking of next year – when we might experience wind damage, grass fires, and massive selenium contamination in the air we breathe.
It’s critical that our MLAs recognize the perils we are facing with these mines.
Leslie Lavers
Lethbridge
-1
Australia is moving away from coal and into Renewable Energy as a viable replacement to coal. That’s what we should be doing and would IF we had a progressive visionary at the helm.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/29/renewables-plus-batteries-offer-australia-the-same-energy-security-as-coal-research-finds
Yes, and also, the Australian mining companies have come here because Australia greatly increased royalty rates on coal mined there. What these Australian coal mining companies want are: cheap leases (which the Kenney UCP handed to them for pennies on the dollar), lax regulations, politicians who cooperate with them, and, low royalty rates. Not only would open-pit coal mining on our Eastern slopes jeopardize our environment in every way, it also, would not, be a financial savior for Alberta. In this regard, the Kenney UCP have betrayed us, greatly…..kind of a reminder of how AB Conservative governments, for years, did not do Premier Lougheed’s ‘Six Principles’ for resource development: “Behave like an owner, Collect your fair share, Save for a rainy day, Add value, Go slow, and Practice statehood,”…..a glaring betrayal for us Albertans, indeed.
Not sure Blue & SA read much but Alberta has closed most coal-fueled generating facilities and is on track to close the last 2 by 2023. At a cost of many billions of taxpayer dollars for no measured benefit. Don’t feel stupid, we all occasionally speak before we engage our brains sometimes. Maybe not online tho. https://globalnews.ca/news/7502144/alberta-coal-power-ahead-of-schedule/
Regarding the wind, selenium is atomic number 34 so a bit heavy to blow around, even at the speeds you claim. I live on west edge of west side and my weather station 20 ft up recorded a max of 75kph. Lethbridge’s airport site at 100ft up peaked at 104 on March 28. Nasty but nobody here saw 120 or 140. I have been in 140+ winds and you are not walking around in them! Anyways, selenium is normally found everywhere in our soil and is therefore present as a product of mining operations. It’s necessary in small amounts for human cellular activity but toxic at larger concentrations. And the Old Man River potential for contamination form the Blairmore mining operation? Have you looked at the drainage area that feed into the rivers that feed into the Old Man? Some 27,000 km2 of land in SW Alberta and Montana feeds the Crowsnest, Castle, Belly, Waterton, and St.Mary Rivers fed by countless creeks including the larger Willow and Pincher. A portion of Teck’s mine surface runoff that is not absorbed would join the dozens of creeks that feed into the Crowsnest. The Crowsnest and Castle together contribute less than 25m3/sec of the 150m3/sec annual average Oldman flow at Lethbridge according to the recent Oldman River State of the Watershed Report. The 27,000 km2 of surface runoff in that 150 m3/sec flow would contribute magnitudes higher selenium volumes than if Teck dumped their entire production into the Crowsnest. Hysteria in a haystack.
Head in the sand.
should put his head into the coal dust for the benefit of humanity
Right on, finally a voice of sanity.
After some research I determined that most of us on the west edge of Lethbridge had not packed their vehicles in fear of evacuation as you claimed. In fact, nobody I talked to even considered it. We are hardy souls here and have seen much worse. Twould seem you have a tendency to fib when it suits your fancy? As you do in the rest of the story. Suck it up buttercup.
the writer provides a thoughtful entry. we can see the effects of heavy metals already being played out via the responses posted by resolute and jillo. to be fair, even the romans did not realise they had gone mad, let alone did they know that lead poisoning was such a thing.
while the aussie coal cos may have already a sordid history behind them, resolute mentions tack. as for teck, they have poisoned far and wide, and seem to always be fighting lawsuits and paying fines. try a search such as : teck fines, or, teck lawsuits…you will get the picture.