1. I grew up fishing with my family in the eastern slopes. Spent many years volunteering with a model UN camp just outside Nordegg. Today, I co-lead a research project on restor(y)ing bull trout population health in Bighorn Country (with nod to @cutchabaldyās (re)claiming work).
2. Iām not a lawyer, however, it seems the Alberta governmentās decision to open the sensitive ecosystems in the eastern slopes goes against many provincial, federal, and international policies, statutes, laws: 1976 coal development policy; SARA; duty to consult; CBD and UNDRIP.
3. 1976 Coal Development Policy: https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/cc40f8f5-a3f7-42ce-ad53-7521ef360b99/resource/802d6feb-04ae-4bcc-aac3-3b3be31a0476/download/1114651976coal-development-policy-for-alberta1976-06.pdf
4. Species at Risk Act (SARA) ā five species of fish are implicated in this region and coal mining will have incredibly negative impacts on already stressed watersheds https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/sara-lep/cnfasar-fnceap/priority-priorite/profiles/rocky-rocheuses-eng.html
5. Duty to consult and Indigenous sovereignty: https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-coal-mining-kenney-ucp-explainer/
6. Also an apparent violation of consultation requirements under other aspects of Alberta policy: https://albertawilderness.ca/revoking-the-coal-policy-taking-alberta-to-court/
7. The Convention on Biological Diversity also stresses the importance of stakeholder consultation ā something many parties allege was not properly carried out in the 2020 rescission of the 1976 Alberta Coal Development Policy. https://www.cbd.int/development/doc/Minining-and-Biodiversity.pdf
8. The rescission of the 1976 Alberta Coal Development Policy seems to violate many many aspects of UNDRIP: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf
9. When a policy violates integrity of biodiversity in a sensitive ecosystem; violates proper consultation requirements; endangers local livelihoods (including ranching); violates Indigenous sovereignty; goes against provincial, federal+international statutes: itās a bad policy.