Achi news desk-
Documents released under Alberta’s Freedom of Information laws confirm the United Conservative government has been talking to the coal industry for years about loosening a policy that protected the Rockies from open pit mining.
The documents also show the province is talking about opening up those landscapes to more development in general for at least seven months before letting the public in on its plans.
The Canadian Press has seen material released to a group of southern Alberta rangers who have fought a four-year battle against Alberta Energy to understand why the province has repealed a decades-old policy protecting the Rockies from coal mines.
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Last week a judge blocked the government’s attempts to block further releases and the rangers are now waiting for thousands more pages.
But the minutes already obtained repeatedly refer to meetings and communications with industry about the policy long before it was repealed in May 2020.
They show that bureaucrats were working as early as October 2019 on ways to remedy what they called “underinvestment” in the area.
Ultimately, public opposition to open pit mining forced the government to back down on its decision.
– More to come…
& copy 2024 The Canadian Press
