February 11th, 2025

Making a distinction on open pit coal mining


By Lethbridge Herald on January 31, 2025.

Editor: 

Re: Scare Tactics letter Jan. 29

To be clear, Maria Fitzpatrick is not opposed to coal.  She is opposed to open pit coal mining – a type of mining which is catastrophic for the environment.

There were indeed coal mines in Lethbridge and in the Pass for many decades. There never were open pit mines here.  We’ve never had selenium in our water.

The Alberta government has banned new open pit mines to prevent more selenium contamination. However, they have grand-fathered the Grassy Mountain project and it will go ahead – so our water is, in fact, at risk.

This issue isn’t unique to our area.  A new American study has confirmed that southeast British Columbia coal mines are contaminating waters shared by Canada and the U.S. Joint cross-border efforts to remove selenium from wastewater have been unsuccessful.

The issue IS open pit coal mining and our water IS at risk.

Leslie Lavers

Lethbridge

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buckwheat

Yes, maybe, could be, but are you all opposed to a lithium mine at Brocket, which would be downstream from the job killers. Hmmm. Accepted level for selenium in water country wide is .05 milligrams per litre or 50 PARTS PER BILLION. Any confirmation, study that would confirm/deny that this new mine would produce more than that. I will wait. If the answer is we would have to wait for the mine to be built then anything written is purely the manifestation of the NIMBY and CAVE crowd. Produce some numbers or back off the scare tactics. For example. What is the current level of selenium at the WTP Lethbridge.

Fedup Conservative

I bet you fully support your Reform Party hero Pierre Poilievre even though he promises to destroy the CBC and its 9,492 jobs but that’s okay, right ? That how stupid you mindless seniors are, isn’t it? No concern for our children’s future or what Global Warming is doing to the planet and their future ? Don’t care about the $260 billion oil well cleanup mess or the $85 billion debt these Reformers have created by slashing Lougheed’s oil and Corporate Tax wealth, that’s how stupid you are, isn’t it? In other words, just another pathetic human being, incapable of intelligent thought, right?

Chmie

The waste rock generated by u/g mining is insignificant compared to open pit mining. The hundred of millions (likely more) cubic meters of rock dumped into water sheds along the western slopes of the Rockies have caused and will continue to cause irreparable harm to the downstream fresh water sources. Teck and/or Glencore have spent significant dollars trying to mitigate the selenium contamination and this will continue for the foreseeable future. Once their mine become unprofitable the company will shutdown and likely declare bankruptcy leaving the cleanup costs to us taxpayers. Remember the abandoned oil wells?

Learjet

Hi Leslie… it’s been a long time!

To your point, I have also known Maria for a long time. Despire her obvious other virtures, such as raising 2 awesome girls, she is coming at this from a political perspective.

WIthout proper scientific analysis, this knee-jerk oppposition to mining metalurgical coal for the steel we use puts thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity at risk. For those who aren’t aware, we need money to pay for education, health care, affordable housing, purchase food imports and, yes,developing clean energy.

It makes an objective observer wonder if Mr.Marashino’s election as Lethbrdge West MLA has set the stage for another run at her old postion as Lethbridge East MLA.

As ususal, transparency is not a feature of our local politics.

DPL

SophieR

It’s funny how you and bucky posture for proof (which is practically flooding the zone, and proven beyond doubt a hundred km west), yet throw out absurd numbers on steel production. Alberta has zero blast furnaces. Zero jobs are related to metallurgical coal in steel making. Zero dollars are contributing to our comfortable lives.

Fedup Conservative

Yet they aren’t smart enough to understand that Albertans have been screwed out of $1.2 trillion of dollars by these Reformers starting with Ralph Klein. While we have a $85 billion debt and a $260 billion oil well cleanup mess to contend with Alaska has $80 billion in their savings account and every man, woman and child has received $52, 000. In total annual oil dividend cheques since 1982. These fools got $1,000.and they were thrilled, that’s how stupid they are isn’t it?

SophieR

Some local sources to mine for information:
Livingstone Landowners: https://www.livingstonelandowners.net/coal-mining
Southern Alberta Environmental Group: https://sage-environment.org/?p=546#position
Save Our Slopes: https://saveourslopes.ca/
Water for Food: https://waterforfood.substack.com/

Fedup Conservative

Another senior fool ignoring the facts and doesn’t care about the horrific financial mess these Reformers have put us in, now willing to let them put our water supplies at risk, there is nothing intelligent about him, is there?
Wouldn’t collecting proper oil royalties and corporate taxes create the money we need like it did under Lougheed and Getty and like it’s doing for Alaska and Norway. We were on our way to becoming rich like them until ignorant Albertans allowed these Reformers to destroy it , weren’t we?

biff

you sure it isn’t millions of jobs and billions of dollars? i mean, if one wishes to tinker this all the way down the capitalist economic domino line and back again, well it becomes untold prosperity stemming from this wonderful project.

and, as per usual, we can worry about the environmental, sustainability, and health costs sometime further down the road…maybe still trying to pretend that those do not matter, nor exist?



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