Local coal mine opponents take their message to the streets
By Lethbridge Herald on March 22, 2021.
Herald photo by Dale Woodard
Michael Bartz and Sara Andres don their Mountains Not Mines billboards before getting on their bikes to take part in a ride through the River Valley as part of the Mountains Not Mines demonstration Saturday morning.Dale Woodard
Lethbridge Herald
A local group speaking out against coal mining in the Eastern Slopes took their word to the street Saturday morning.
Or more specifically, to the river valley.
A fleet of vehicles representing the Mountains Not Mines Action Group met up Saturday morning out front of the Alberta Motor Association to spread their message about coal mining and the potential for damage to the Oldman River and the water supply.
“Today’s event is about raising awareness about the threat of coal mining in the Eastern Slopes and what could happen as a result,” said Mountains Not Mines Action Group Lethbridge representative Waneeta Fisher. “Also, it’s to give people ways of finding out more information so they can make informed decisions themselves because the province wants to do a consultation at the end of the month. So we want to make sure everybody knows and has all of their facts straight and has questions they would like to ask and be involved in that consultation.”
With vehicles with website addresses such as http://www.protectalbertawater.ca and http://www.mountainsnotmines.ca written on them and hashtags #waternotmines #waternotcoal and signs proclaiming “Defending Alberta’s Parks”, “Protect Alberta Water and Rocky Mountains”, “Say no to open pit coal mining on the eastern slopes” and “Save The Oldman”, the masked demonstrators gathered before starting the motorcade.
“I’ve asked everyone who can to put hashtags on their vehicles and websites that people can find information on,” said Fisher. “We’ll drive around the river bottom and hopefully be able to get people’s attention so they have avenues to go online and find more information themselves. It’s an awareness convoy. I’m sure a lot of people have their cellphones down there and they can start looking stuff up right away. This is a really big deal and I want people to be aware.”
Fisher said water quality was the main concern.
“Open pit coal mining is going to use a heck of a lot of water and they’re going to be taking it from small mountain streams and creeks. That is going to have a huge impact on the flow of the Oldman. We have legal obligations with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to allow 50 per cent of our water to get through. So that affects how much water we can take and I think in dry summers — we’re in a dry region of the province — that is going to have a huge impact.”
Fisher looked a few years down the road to potential consequence.
“I foresee in the future, maybe five or 10 years down the road, where they’ll have water restrictions. You can’t water your lawn or your trees. It’ll have a big impact on the city. The mayor has already said they can’t filter out some of the toxins that are going to be added into the rivers. So that is a big concern in our water plants here in the city.”
Saturday’s demonstration was the first for Lethbridge’s Mountains Not Mines Action Group, said Fisher.
“But there are convoys rolling out all across the province (Saturday) doing the same thing. It’s a province-wide initiative. Hopefully people will see these signs all over.”
In addition to the Mountains Not Mines Action Group, Fisher said there’s also a Facebook page called Protect Alberta’s Rockies and Headwaters.
“They have a ton of information on there about what the proposals are, what are some of the concerns being raised right now and some of the scientists who are involved in this. Our Facebook group right now is at 35,000 and growing and they’ve been doing that since just before Christmas. So that’s remarkable and everybody is getting educated. We know we’re getting the facts and we know what the issues are.”
The Protect Alberta’s Rockies and Headwaters Facebook page can be found at http://www.facebook.com/groups/albertansagainstcoal.
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Hear, hear! The millions of us who would be negatively affected by open pit coal mining on our Eastern slopes should be, very, concerned. Kudos to those who are getting out and doing this action!
One would wonder what our elected representatives are personally benefiting from allowing this desecration to happen