Government answers at coal meeting didn’t hold water
By Lethbridge Herald on June 19, 2025.
Editor,
“Brazil nuts!” My son and I were howling with laughter on the way home from Fort Macleod where the Townhall on Coal Mines was held on June 11.
We were part of a jam-packed and raucous crowd of 540 people who wanted to hear Premier Smith, Ministers Jean, Schulz and Sigurdson, and MLA Petrovic talk – but also to have them listen to our frustrations with this UCP government. In general, they preferred to blame previous governments. Petrovic set a tone of disrespect from the onset by providing an acknowledgement not of the land (kind of expected, given the topic) but instead endorsing her benevolent leader Smith. Each minister in turn offered up glowing accolades. Most people laughed and others clapped.
The core contentious issue debated for most of the session was about the quality of water expelled from, and quantity of water expropriated for, any new open pit coal mines.
Pro-water attendees asked thoughtful, well-researched questions based on peer-reviewed science and real-world examples from B.C.’s Elk Valley coal industry experiences, including the millions of dollars in fines levied against Teck Resources for selenium contamination.
Queries also included the government of Alberta’s own recent report about selenium poisoning in Crowsnest Lake from abandoned coal mines that will eventually cause the complete collapse of its fish population.
Clearly, the old adage “the solution to pollution is dilution” quite literally does not hold water! Selenium does not dilute, it bioaccumulates say professional toxicologists.
Scientists have proved that coal mining exposes unearthed rock that leaches selenium downstream (and coal dust downwind) and there is NO economical or effective means of stopping or filtering it.
What answers did we get from the government? Jean boisterously proclaimed that a new Coal Modernization Initiative would solve all these problems thanks to an extensive consultation underway now with, you guessed it, coal companies. He falsely told the audience the selenium problem in the Elk Valley was being fixed now (for which he received loud boos). He even seemed surprised to learn from a retired geologist that Alberta’s coal quality and market value is vastly inferior to Elk Valley’s.
Smith jumped in to offer her expert opinion on selenium concentrations, comparing them to what’s found in… Brazil nuts, and who doesn’t like them?
New coal mines must be stopped. They threaten to poison our drinking water, kill fish, destroy ecosystems, and devastate our outdoor recreation and eco-tourism industries. Even more alarming, they put Alberta’s $10 Billion agrifood sector at serious risk, along with ranchers and other farmers.
If you agree, please contact your municipal council, MLA, the ministers above and Smith to say NO to coal mining on the Eastern Slopes – our kids and all future generations deserve better!
Gordon Petersen
Okotoks
15-14
I had lunch with 42 of my senior friends in Edmonton yesterday. We were all once proud Conservative supporters and have had with these Reform Party idiots and our fellow seniors who find it smart to support them. Hurling their sarcastic comments at those of us not as stupid as them, aren’t you?
Like the 71% who answered the survey on the right. We want a government who listens to the people and not a group of idiots who don’t give a damn about polluting the planet and ignoring what Global Warming is doing to us.
Our main concern is the lack of respect they show our doctors, nurses, teachers, children and grandchildren. The senior doctors, nurses, and teachers in our senior group were ever treated the way they are being treated today by these Reformers. The conservatives under Lougheed and Getty showed all of us dignity and respect. These Reformers show us none.
Everyone is certain that these mindless idiots will re-elect this fool Pierre Poilievre with Albertans proving how stupid they are time and time again.
You can bet on it, can’t you?
It was her pal Ralph Klein who coined the phrase “ Left Wing Nuts” so why not Brazil Nuts that’s how stupid she is. Like her pal Pierre Poilievre who wants to be another Donald Trump she wants to be another Ralph Klein.
Make certain you read “Alberta Politics” today about the meeting in Fort MacLeod where Smith was trying to spread her lies about coaling mining. Apparently the farmers and ranchers are finally waking up to the fact that these Reformers can’t be trusted and they’ve seen enough of their stupidity, haven’t you?
Of course there will always be a handful of morons who will continue to support them isn’t there? They just aren’t smart enough to get the message.
I’m originally from a very large farm in Alberta. Water is very crucial for crops, because what will we eat if there are no crops? My parents and their siblings, as well as their parents, were around in the Great Depression era. The droughts we have been seeing are worse now than they were back then. Anyone who was around in the 1930s, or has parents who were around then, will tell you what it was like. The UCP doesn’t care about our water.
smitty the einstein, may be on to something. not quite e=mc² but brilliant in a dumb politician kinda way…ok, so let’s go ahead with the coal mine, but ban brazil nuts so as to maintain a balance.
Cheers and/or Jeers surrounding the town hall amount to zero. The government showed due diligence in communicating the plan and options. Speculation and fear mongering on the “dreaded selenium” by the way selenium is part of the ecological composure, not only in CNP but world wide along with trace minerals, sediment and industrial introduced chemicals. Funny thing, if we were to digest what nay sayers are fledging, residents of Lethbridge should have been wiped out years ago due to mining in and along the Oldman River (coulees) in Lethbridge!