They say that history is the best predictor of the future so why would you be good with the government’s reassurance of trusting the regulatory system to do their job in assessing the coal mine concern? Alberta has more than 100,000 non producing wells, with estimated cost to $40-$70 billion to clean up as reported in 2019. And guess who’s probably going to have to pick up the tab.
Given this example by a regulatory management system you can probably see why people have a concern over the coal mines and trust. The companies state they have better methods, what does that really mean, what amount would be acceptable and over what amount of time? Another concern is what happens when the open pit coal mines are depleted? Who’s going to be responsible in managing it when these foreign companies are done? What is a known guarantee is that rain and snow will continue to fall from the top of these opened areas, water will run down from stream to rivers, to lakes and reservoirs, from the rocky mountain eastwards to Manitoba, unleashing contaminates that has already been demonstrated as the pollution result in the Fording and Elk rivers for years.
How important is clean water, you will die within 3 to 5 days without it. So, ask yourself which has more value in the long run for your family, for the future environment in supporting life along these water routes, coal, or water.
Now that Albertans are aware of what the government did in scrapping the protection of these areas from open pit, it’s up to you to remind them on who they report to before making decisions, in this case the precious resource of water.
Dennis Bigras
